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| ™TED STATES OF AMERICA 1 



AN ESSAY 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



j BY 

THOMAS^ LEWIN, Esq., 

OF TRINITY COLLEGE, OXFORD, M.A., AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF ST. PAUL.' 



OXFOED, 

JOHN HENRY PARKER 

AND 377, STRAND, LONDON. 
M DCCC LXV. 



& 



V* 



PRINTED I1Y MESSES TAHKER, CORN-MARKET. OXFORD. 



Had the present attempt to illustrate the Chronology 
of the New Testament been of sufficient importance to 
justify a dedication, the author would have inscribed it 
to one whose public services need no comment, but from 
whom the author personally has ever, through life, re- 
ceived the most disinterested kindness, — 

The Right Honble. LOED St. LEONAEDS. 



PREFACE 



In the following pages will be found occasional de- 
viations from the chronology adopted in the Life of 
St. Paul. A more matured consideration of the subject, 
and a perusal of some of the German writers, parti- 
cularly Anger and Wieseler, have enabled the author, 
it is hoped, to attain a nearer approximation to the 
truth. 



13, Uppeb Haeley-stbeet, 
May 18, 1854. 



CONTENTS. 



Chap. I. 

PAGE 

The time of the Birth of Christ 1 

Chap. II. 
The time of Commencement and Duration of our Saviour's 

Ministry 29 

Chap. III. 
The time of St. Paul's first Arrival at Corinth . . .94 

Chap. IY. 
The date of St. Paul's Conversion 108 

Chap. V. 
The time of the Visit of St. Paul and Barnahas to Jerusalem, 
when they were sent up with the Alms from the Church 
of Antioch ......... 109 

Chap. VI. 
The date of St. Paul's Visit to Jerusalem when he was arrested 

in the Temple 114 

Chap. VII. 
The date of St. Paul's Release from Imprisonment at Borne . 128 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TI1TE OF THE BIETH OF CHRIST. 

The year a.d. 1 was adopted as the commencement 
of the Christian era by Dionysius Exiguus, a monk 
of the sixth century. That the birth of Christ was 
thus considerably post-dated, or placed too late, is now 
universally admitted ; and for the purpose of correcting 
the error we must carry our inquiry back from a.d. 1 
into the previous period. 

The birth of Christ was not long before the death 
of Herod the Great. The murder of the Innocents 
must stamp this fact upon every one's recollection. Our 
first object therefore will be to determine, if we can, the 
exact year in which the death of Herod occurred. 

Josephus, besides other indicia of less importance, 
furnishes us with two distinct and independent tests for 
the discovery of the year in question. In the first place, 
shortly before the death of Herod an eclipse of the moon 
was observed at Jerusalem at night* ; and secondly, 
about Midsummer of the same year, Archelaus a candi- 

Kai t] aeXrjvi] Se rfj airy wkt'i i£e\iirev. Jos. Ant. xvii. 6, 4. 
B 



2 THE TIME OF 

date for the kingdom of Judaea pleaded his case be- 
fore Augustus at Rome, when Caius the grandson, and 
adopted son of Augustus, was present, and took pre- 
cedence of the other assessors b . 

1. First, then, was the death of Herod in the year 
b.c. 1 ? We answer, No ; for neither was there an 
eclipse of the moon at Jerusalem during that year, nor 
was Caius then at Rome ; for he had sailed from Italy 
toward the close of the preceding year, or at the latest 
in the spring of this year, and was now occupied 
somewhere in the East, from which indeed he never 
returned. 

2. Can the death of Herod be referred to the year 
b.c. 2 ? We may safely assume that Caius at this time 
was present in Rome, but then there was no eclipse of 
the moon that year at Jerusalem at night, though one 
actually occurred at - Jerusalem in tlte day, viz., on 
January the 20th, at half-past two in the afternoon. We 
must also reject this year on another account. Josephus 
tells us that Archelaus reigned ten years c , and we learn 
from Dion Cassius d , that he was deposed in a.d. 6. 
He could not then have begun to reign, on the demise of 
his father, so late as b.c 2, and, a fortiori, not so late as 
b.c 1, for, on the former supposition, Archelaus in a.d. 6 

" "2vv of? kol Faiov top 'Ayplinrov pev Kai 'lovXias rrjs avrov Bvyarpos 
vibv, TroirjTov be airS) yeyovora, Trparov re Ka.de8ovp.ei/ov napeXafie. Jos. 
Ant. xvii. 9, 5. 

c AeKaTw Se erei rrjs dpx^s, &C. Jos. Ant. xvii. 13, 2. BaaiXevovros 
'Apx^Xdov to bendrov. Vita, s. 1 . 

d Under the consulship of iEmilius Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius, 
(A.D. 6,) is the following occurrence ; 6, re 'Upabrjs 6 riaXato-rti/oy alrlau 
Tiva curb rav adt\(pwv Att/3a)i> vnep ras "AXttsls vTrepcopioSr). Dion. lv. 27. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 3 

would have reigned only eight years, and on the latter 
only seven. 

3. Can we assign the death of Herod to the year 
B.C. 3 ? The objections to this again are insuperable, 
for daring this year there was no eclipse of the moon 
at all at Jerusalem ; and again, if Archelaus succeeded 
Herod in B.C. 3, he could not be said to have reigned 
ten years when he was deposed in a.d. 6. The latter 
argument is met by those who advocate the year B.C. 3, 
by the counter-statement that in the Wars Josephus 
speaks of Archelaus as banished not in his tenth, but in 
his ninth year e . This no doubt is so, but the Wars was 
Josephus's earliest production, and when he had not made 
himself perfectly master of the previous history. In the 
subsequent and more accurate work of the Antiquities f , 
and also in the Life of himself s, written at a later period 
still, he computes the reign of Archelaus at ten years, 
and assuming this to be so, Archelaus could not have 
begun to reign in B.C. 3, if, as Dion states, he was de- 
posed in a.d. 6. 

We may add that coins of Herod Antipas have been 
found struck in the forty-third year, and some even in 
the forty-fourth year of his reign. The genuineness of the 
former has never been doubted, and there are no suffi- 
cient grounds for questioning that of the latter. Now 
Antipas was certainly deposed in the year a.d. 40, and if 
so he could not at that time have reached his forty-fourth 
year on the supposition that his reign commenced at 
the death of Herod in b.c. 3 ; a fortiori, he could not 

e "Erei ttjs dpxrjs evvdrcp. Bell. ii. 7, 3. £ Ant. xvii. 13, 1. 

e Vita, s. 1. 

B 2 



4 THE TIME OF 

have begun to reign in b.c. 2; and a fortiori still, not in 
B.C. 1. 

4. We come next to the year b.c. 4, and several 
arguments, derived from independent sources, lead us to 
the conclusion that the death of Herod must be referred 
to this, and cannot be assigned to any other year. 

1. An eclipse of the moon did actually occur at 
Jerusalem on the night of March 12 — 13, B.C. 4, 
lasting from 1.48 a.m. to 4.12 a.m. h If we ex- 
amine the events related by Josephus as happening 
between the eclipse recorded by him and the following 
Passover, we shall find that they are just such as would 
occupy, without exceeding, the interval between the 
eclipse that took place on March the 12th, b.c 4, and 
the ensuing Passover on April the 10th, b.c 4. 

This will appear from the following table, in which 
the events are adjusted according to their respective dates 
as nearly as a balance of probabilities will allow 1 . 

March 
The Rabbins are burnt alive by Herod . . . 12 

An eclipse of the moon the same night . . 12 — 13 

The disorder of Herod increases, which is construed 

as a judgment for the death of the Rabbins . 13 

Herod is conveyed to Jericho, 150 stades, apparently 
on his road to Callirhoe, and without staying at 
Jericho . . . . . . . . 15 

h Wieseler, 56. 

1 All the particulars here mentioned will be found either in the "Wars 
or the Antiquities. The author has set them out at greater length in 
order to give all the weight possible to the objection made by many that 
the events could not have occurred within the interval between the eclipse 
and the Passover. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 



March 



He proceeds to Callirhoe on the eastern coast of the 
Dead Sea, where he tries the effect of the warm 
baths 17 

He is plunged into a vessel 01 oil, and is almost 

killed by it 19 

He despairs of life, and distributes a donation to the 

army, and returns to Jericho . . . . 21 

He summons by dispatches the chiefs of the nation 
from all Judaea, and they are imprisoned in the 
hippodrome from time to time as they arrive. 
Letters come from Rome, and Herod revives a 
little 22 

He relapses and makes an attempt upon his life. 
Antipater at the news of it tries to bribe the 
jailor to release him, but the jailor gives informa- 
tion to Herod, and Herod puts Antipater to death. 23 

Death of Herod five days after, that is, on the fifth 

day inclusive ....... 27 

His death concealed until the prisoners in the hippo- 
drome have been released and sent home 

Herod's death announced to the people convened in 
the amphitheatre and preparations made for a 
splendid funeral . . . . . . 28 

Burial of Herod. (N.B. The usual time of burial was 
on the same day as the death, as in the instance 
of our Saviour. The preparations on this occasion 
were probably not long) ..... April 2 

Mourning of seven days ends. (N.B. If the mourning 
began from the death, and not from the burial, it 
would have ended some days before) ... 8 

Archelaus addresses the people in the temple . . 9 

The Passover. A stir in the city by the friends of 
the Rabbins mourning for their death now that the 
mourning for Herod had ceased. Archelaus sends - - 



THE TIME OF 



April 



an officer to appease them by soft words. He is 
pelted. Others are sent, but with no better 
success. A band of soldiers is sent against them, 
and on their being driven back the whole army is 
sent, and three thousand of the people slain. At 
this time they were sacrificing at the Passover . 10 

In this table different persons may entertain different 
opinions as to the exact time to be allowed to any par- 
ticular event, but the reader will see that the occurrences 
upon the whole adapt themselves very well to the 
actual interval between the eclipse on March the 12th 
and the Passover on April the 10th. Should any part 
seem to demand larger space, it may be conceded, for 
the suppression of the public entente on account of the 
Rabbins is placed in the above table on the first day of 
the Passover, whereas Josephus mentions only by way 
of accounting for the multitudes assembled, that it was 
during the celebration of the Passover ; and as this feast 
lasted eight days, viz., from April the 10th (inclusive) 
to April the 17th (inclusive), the disturbance may have 
been quelled on any day not later than the 17th, so that 
seven days more, if necessary, may be allowed to the 
foregoing series of events. 

2. Another argument for placing the death of Herod 
in B.C. 4 is this. Josephus relates that Herod in B.C. 
47 had completed his 15th year k . It is agreed, as 
is evident enough, that 15 is a mistake, and most likely 
for 25 \ and if so Herod was then in his 26th year, and 

k TJevTeicaiSem yap avrci eyeyopet \xova erq. Jos. Ant., xiv. 9, 2. 

1 A similar error occurs in the reign of Hyrcanus ; for it is clear that 
Teaadpa.Koi'Ta in Ant. xv. 6, 4 is written for reWapa Kai e'Uocn, as appears 
from Ant. xx. 10. " 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 7 

in B.C. 4 would be in his 69th year. Accordingly Jose- 
plms mentions that Herod Avas at the time of his death 
" well nigh of the age of 70 m ." 

3. We have before mentioned that at the hearing of 
Archelaus at Rome, in the midsummer of the year in 
which Herod died, Caius, the adopted son of Augustus, 
was present. And it will be observed that no allusion 
is made by Josephus to Lucius, the brother of Caius, 
and the other adopted son of Augustus. All this agrees 
with the year B.C. 4, for Caius had assumed the toga 
virills the preceding year, B.C. 5, and Lucius did not 
assume the ioga virills till the year B.C. 2. Caius there- 
fore would naturally be present at an important public 
discussion in B.C. 4, while Lucius would not. 

4. Archelaus, as we have seen, was banished in the 
10th year of his reign, and, as we are informed by Dion 
Cassius that this event occurred in a.d. 6, we must 
conclude that Archelaus succeeded his father Herod at 
the latest in b.c. 4, and could not have done so in b.c. 3 
or any subsequent year. 

5. Philip, another of the sons of Herod, and the tetrarch 
of Trachonitis, is said to have reigned 37 years, and he 
died in the 20th year of Tiberius, i. e. between Aug. 19 
a.d. 33 and Aug. 19 a.d. 34 n . If, as we have supposed, 
Herod died a little before the Passover, b.c. 4, the 37th 
year of Philip would be complete a little before the Pass- 
over a.d. 34, and if so, part of the 37th year of Philip 
would coincide with part of the 20th year of Tiberius. 

m 'Hi/ p.lv yap fjdr] (T^eSoi/ irav ifShojxrjKOVTa. Jos. Bell. i. 33, 1. 
n EiKoo~r<a pev iviavTW rr/s Tiftepiov dpxjjs, Tjyrjcrdpevos 8e avros enra Ka\ 
Tpid<ovTa. Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 6. 



8 THE TIME OF 

6. We have before referred to certain coins of Herod 
Antipas. Some of these were struck in his 43rd year , 
and some, according to Vaillantius and Gallandus, were 
struck in his 44th year. Eckhel indeed suggests that 
Vaillantius and Gallandus may have been mistaken, but 
this is mere hypothesis p . Now if Herod died before the 
Passover B.C. 4, the 43rd year of Antipas would com- 
mence in the spring of a.d. 39, and the 44th year in 
the spring of a.d. 40. What then was the exact time 
when Herod Antipas was deposed? We learn from 
Josephus that it was in the 4th year of the reign of 
King Agrippa over the tetrarchy of Trachonitis, which 
had been conferred upon him by Caligula in March a.d. 
37 q . The deprivation of Herod Antipas would therefore be 
after March a.d. 40, (when the 4th year of Agrippa 
began,) and not long after March a.d. 40, for Caligula 
returned to Rome from his Germanic expedition on 
August the 31st of the same year, and in Agrippa' s 
letter to the emperor, written shortly afterwards, on the 
subject of the erection of the statue in the temple at 
Jerusalem, allusion is made to the banishment of An- 
tipas as having already taken place 1- . Assuming there- 
fore that Antipas was banished some time between March 
and August a.d. 40, the coins of the 43rd year might 

Taico. Kcucr. Tepp. Ce/3. W.pa)8r]s. Terpapxqs. L. Mr. Eckhel doct. num. 
vol. iii. 486. 

p See Eckhel ubi supra. 

q (Agrippa) rijs QiXlttttov pep rerpapxias els rpterlav ap£as, ra Terdpra> 
8e Kai rrjv 'H/xoSou (Antipas) Trpoo-eiXrjcfxZs. Ant. xix. 8, 2. 

r Avtis Se Kai irepas pet^avos (x&pas (Bacrikelav exapiaco) rt]v Tpa^co- 
vlnv Kai rt]v TaKikalav a-vvd\jyas. Phil. Leg. 41 : that is, Caligula had 
added the dominions of Antipas to those which Agrippa had before pos- 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 9 

very well have been struck by Antipas in the spring 
of a.d. 89 before he sailed to Rome, and those in the 
44th year in the spring of a.d. 40 before he was exiled, 
and a fortiori before the news of his disgrace could have 
reached Judaea. 

We shall now consider some objections that may be 
advanced against the hypothesis that Herod's death 
occurred in b.c 4. 

1. It may be said that John the Baptist, according to 
St. Luke, opened his ministry in the 15th year of 
Tiberius 3 , i.e. after Aug. 19, a.d. 28, and that Jesus, 
who followed John, could not have begun to preach 
until toward the close of a.d. 28 at the earliest; that 
Luke tells us that Jesus was " at the beginning (viz. of 
His ministry) of about 30 years 1 ;" and if so His birth 
would be referrible to the close of the year b.c. 3, and 
then Herod, it is argued, could not, as supposed, have 
died in b.c 4, as Christ was certainly born in the life- 
time of Herod. 

Such is the objection, but it may be shewn to be 
untenable. The argument assumes the meaning of 
Luke to be that Jesus when He began was just about 
30 years old, that is, within a few days, or weeks, or 
months of that exact age. But this interpretation can- 
not be maintained, for if Christ was 30 years old in 
the 15th year of Tiberius, i. e. at the close of a.d. 28, 
He was born at the close of b.c. 3, and Herod must 
have died at the earliest in the spring of b.c 2. But 

s 'Ei> era Se Trevreicai.8eiidTcp rrjs rjyepovlas Tifieplov Kalaapos k.t.X. 
Luke iii. 1. 

1 Kal avros tjv 6 'itjcrovi coae\ irdv rpiaKovra dp\6pevos. Luke iii. 23. 



10 THE TIME OF 

the latter fact may be pronounced absolutely impos- 
sible ; for in the first place there Avas no eclipse of the 
moon in that year; and secondly, Archelaus, who was 
banished in a.d. 6, could not have reigned either 9 or 
10 years, as Josephus states was the case ; and thirdly, 
Herod Philip, who died in the 20th year of Tiberius, 
could not have reigned 37 years; and lastly, Herod 
Antipas, who was deposed in a.d. 40, could not have 
struck coins in the 43rd and 44th years of his reign. 

But in fact Luke does not state that Jesus was 30 
years old, but only in round numbers that He was "of 
about 30 years." The Evangelist might fix on the 
number of 30 not only from the common usage of 
mankind in reckoning by decads, omitting the units, 
but also from the circumstance that the Levites, the 
Jewish priests, commenced their office at the age of 30 u . 
Luke then might mean only that Jesus was nearer 30 
than 40 or 20, as the expression "about 300" might 
signify nearer 300 than 400 or 200. If Herod died in 
the year B.C. 4 and Christ was born six months before, 
say in Sept. b.c. 5, He would in Oct. a.d. 29, when as 
we shall see He began His ministry, be just about 33 : 
and the expression of Luke, which is in round numbers, 
is not inconsistent with this supposition. From the 
language of Luke on other occasions we should rather 
infer that in this place he employs the words " of about 
30" with some degree of latitude. Thus Luke tells us 
that Jesus, when taken by His parents to Jerusalem at 
the Feast of the Passover, was "12 years old*," not "of 
about 12;" so that when he speaks of Jesus as "of 

u Numbers iv. 3. x ore eyevero eYcoi/ Swfie/ca. Luke ii. 42. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 11 

about 30," he intends something different from 30 ex- 
actly. Again, he represents the transfiguration as oc- 
curring " about 8 days" {uxrei rjpepcu oktco, Luke ix. 
28) after the acknowledgment by Peter that Jesus was 
the Christ; but both Matthew, xvii. 1, and Mark, ix. 2, 
say it was " 6 days after." Here therefore Luke, in 
calling 6 days "about 8 days,"-uses the same laxity 
of language as in stating Jesus to be about 30 when 
He was just about 33. It is not improbable that Luke 
at the time he was writing did not know what the pre- 
cise age of Christ at the commencement of His ministry 
really was, and therefore purposely expressed himself in 
general terms. 

We may also hazard the conjecture that the difficulty, 
if any, in the passage of St. Luke, has arisen from the 
error of a transcriber. Jesus began His ministry in the 
autumn of a.d. 29, when He was of the age of 33, and 
Luke perhaps wrote that Jesus was then rpicov TpicLKovra 
or 33, and in the MS. the reduplication of the rpia was 
not observed (TPIONTPIAKONTA), and, one of the 
two rpia being accidentally omitted, the copyist wrote 
"about 30" instead of "about 33." 

2. Another objection that may be urged against placing 
the death of Herod in the year b.c. 4 arises from the state- 
ment of Josephus that Herod reigned 37 years from his 
appointment to the kingdom of Judaea by the Romans, 
and 34 years from the death of Antigonus, the last of 
the Maccabean princes 7 ; whereas it is said that if Herod 

y Baaikeva-as p.ed' o pev avelXev ' ' Avriyovov err) Teaaapa Kal reacrapd- 
Koi>ra, ped y o 8e V7ro 'Papalwv aTrobedeiKTo eTrra Kal TpiaKovra. Jos. Ant. 
xvii. 8, 1. 



12 THE TIME OF 

died b.c. 4 he had not reigned 36 years from the one 
event or 33 years from the other. 

In order to deal with this argument, and to under- 
stand what force is due to it, we must endeavour in 
limine to ascertain with some degree of precision, First, at 
what time Herod was declared king by the Romans, 
from which is to be dated what may be designated his 
nominal reign ; and Secondly, at what time occurred the 
death of Antigonus, from which began what may be called 
Herod's actual reign. We shall then proceed to deter- 
mine as well as we can in what sense Josephus is 
to be understood when he ascribes 37 years in the one 
case and 34 years in the other to the reign of Herod. 

1. As to the nominal reign of this king, all chrono- 
logers agree in assigning the commencement of it to 
the year b.c. 40, and we can arrive at the exact period 
of the year without much difficulty. 

Early in the year (b.c. 40) Pacorus and Barzaphernes 
at the head of two divisions of Parthians invaded Judaea, 
the former proceeding along the coast and the latter 
through Galilee. Pacorus advanced against Herod and 
Phasaelus, who were then in Jerusalem, about the time 
of the Pentecost, which was on May the 10th z . 

After the Pentecost, or May the 10th, occurred the fol- 
lowing events : 

Herod engages in battle with Antigonus and his ad- 
herents, and shuts them up in the temple and in their 
entrenchments, Bell. i. 13, 3 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 

Pacorus and the Parthians, under pretext of recon- 

z ' kvijievov oi 7roXe'/xtot top 6K ttjs x^P as <>X^ 0V e ' ? T h v KdKov/xevtjV 
Heim>)Koo-Tr)v. Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 'Efo-rao^s b' eopr?)s rj TvevTrjKO<TTr) KaXetrcu. 
Bell. i. 13, 3. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 13 

ciling differences, are admitted into the city, Bell. i. 13, 
3 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 4. 

Hyrcanus and Phasaelus go on an embassy to Bar- 
zaphernes in Galilee, and appearances of friendship are 
for some time kept up, but eventually Barzaphernes 
makes them prisoners, Bell. i. 13, 4 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 5. 

Secret intelligence of the treachery is brought to 
Herod, and he and his adherents (9000 in all) quit 
Jerusalem at night, Bell. i. 13, 7 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 7. 

The next day the Parthians are masters of the city, 
and make Antigonus king, Bell. i. 13, 9 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 
10. (This was about July the 5th, for at the fast on 
Oct. the 5th B.C. 37 Antigonus had reigned 3 years and 
3 months a , and if so he had been declared king by the 
Parthians about July the 5th, B.C. 40.) 

Herod fights with his pursuers at Herodium, at some 
distance from Jerusalem, Bell. i. 13, 8 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 9. 

He meets his brother Joseph at Thressa and commits 
his family to him, and posts him with a garrison at 
Masada in Idumsea, a place well stored for a siege, and 
proceeds himself to Petra, Bell. i. 13, 8 ; Ant. xiv. 13, 9. 

Herod is repulsed by Malchus, king of Petra, and retires 
towards Egypt. He sleeps the first night in a temple, 
and the next night reaches Rhinocolura, on the borders 
of Egypt, where he hears of the death of Phasaelus, 
Bell. i. 14, 2 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 2. 

Herod cannot procure a passage from Rhinocolura to 
Alexandria by sea, but is at length allowed to pass 
thither by land, Bell. i. 14, 2 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 2. 

a Bap£a(pepvT]s Se <a\ Hannpos . . . 'Avrlyovov KarecrTTjo-av fiaaiXea. Tpla 
oe err] kcu rpels prjvas (ip^avra tovtov 2ocrcn6s re Kai 'Hpadrjs if-iiroXiop- 
Krjcrav. Ant. xx. 10. 



14 THE TIME OP 

At Alexandria Cleopatra detains him and tries to pre- 
vent his further progress, Ant. xiv. 13, 2 ; Bell. i. 14, 2. 

He sets sail for Rome, though he would have to 
encounter the winter on his voyage fxrjTe rrju aKji-qv 
X^Lficovos v7roSelcra?, Bell. i. 14, 2; and see Ant. xiv. 
14, 2. 

He sails by way of Pamphylia and is overtaken by 
a storm, and reaches Rhodes with difficulty, Bell. i. 14, 
3 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 3. 

At Rhodes he fits out another ship and sails to Brun- 
disium and then proceeds to Rome, which he reaches in 
due time, Bell i. 14, 3 ; Ant. xiv. 14, 3. 

During his absence his kinsfolk are distressed for 
water at Masada but are relieved by the rains which 
usually occur about a month after the Feast of Taber- 
nacles, and therefore late in October, Bell. i. 15, 1 ; 
Ant. xiv. 14, 6. 

The summary may be thus stated. Herod was at 
Jerusalem at the Pentecost on May the 10th. His flight 
from Jerusalem was about July the 5th. After settling the 
garrison at Masada and a detention for some time at 
Alexandria he may have set sail from Egypt about Aug. 
the 1st. He would arrive at Rhodes about the middle of 
August. After fitting out a ship he would again set sail 
about the end of September. He would arrive at Rome 
some time in November. He remained at Rome 7 days 
only, and it was during this brief interval that by a 
decree of the senate he was declared king of Judaea b . 

2. We have to fix the commencement of Herod's 
actual reign, i.e. from the death of Antigonus. 

b Jos. Ant. xiv. 14, 4 and 5. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 15 

The capture of Jerusalem by Herod was in the year 
B.C. 37. Dion Cassius indeed places it in b.c. 38 c , but 
Josephus, in a matter peculiarly affecting his own people, 
is entitled to greater credit, and the series of events 
related by Josephus shews conclusively that Jerusalem 
could not have fallen before the year b.c 37. Assuming 
this to be so, the capture of the city was on the day of 
the Fast a.d. 37, that is, on Oct. the 5th d . Antigonus was 
then made a prisoner, and shortly afterwards sent by 
Herod to Mark Antony at Antioch 6 . Here, though the 
interval must have been brief, but how soon after is 
not mentioned, Antigonus was beheaded. This closed 
the line of the Maccabean princes f . The execution of 
Antigonus may be placed therefore in November b.c 37, 
and from this event commenced what we have called 
the actual reign of Herod. 

Having ascertained with sufficient exactness the two 
termini from which the nominal reign and the actual 
reign of Herod are respectively to be dated, we proceed 
to inquire in what sense Josephus, when he attributes 37 
years to the nominal, and 34 years to the actual reign of 
Herod, is to be understood. 

We may observe in the first place that Josephus pro- 
fesses generally to write with extreme accuracy. We 
should therefore expect that where the duration of a 

c 'F.7r\ [leu 8r] tov re K\av8iov tov re NcopfSdvov tov6' ovtcos eyeveto. 
Dion, xlix. 22. But Dion in these words may be referring, not to the 
capture of Jerusalem, but to the siege of Samosata by Antony, with which 
he had begun the chapter, and which was in B.C. 38. 
rfj iopr?] rrjs vrjo-reias. Ant. xiv. 16, 4. 
e Ant. xv. 1, 2. 

Uaverai ovtcos r\ tov ' Acrapcovalov ctpxr] jJ-eTa %Tf] enciTov kcu zlnoai e{-. 
Ant. xiv. 16, 1. 



16 THE TIME OF 

reign could be ascertained with precision, the historian 
would not express himself in ambiguous terms, but 
would state the limits definitely, not only in years, but 
also in months, or even in days. Accordingly we find 
that in the case of the Roman emperors, Josephus gives 
us the exact length in the most particular manner. Thus 
he tells us that Augustus reigned 57 years 6 months and 

2 days g , Tiberius 22 years 5 months and 3 days h , Cali- 
gula 3 years and 8 months { , Claudius 13 years 5 months 
and 20 days k , Nero 13 years and 8 days 1 , Galba 7 
months and 7 days™, Otho 3 months and 2 days 11 , 
Vitellius 8 months and 5 days °. Josephus may or may 
not be correct in his calculations, but this manifests at 
all events a desire, where he had the means, of marking 
the duration of the imperial reigns, even to the minutest 
fraction. 

The Jeioish kings were comparatively insignificant, and 
the world at large cared little for the time of their accession 
or demise. The historian therefore with respect to them 
had not the same sources of information, and could not 
descend into the same details. However Josephus where 
it was practicable distinguishes the parts of a year even 
in their reigns. Thus Aristobulus is said to have reigned 

3 years and 3 months p, and Antigonus, a like period of 
3 years and 3 months q . Now if Josephus were precise 
in the reign of any Jewish king, one would expect to 
find him so in the instance of Herod, the greatest of 

g Ant. xviii. 2, 2. Bell. ii. 9, 1. 

h Ant. xviii. 6, 10, but according to the Wars 22 years 6 months and 3 
days. Bell. ii. 9, 5. * Ant. xix. 2, 5. Bell. ii. 11, 1. 

k Ant. xx. 8, 1. Bell. ii. 12, 8. l Bell. iv. 9, 2. m Bell. iv. 9, 2. 
n Bell. iv. 9, 9. ° Bell. iv. 11, 4. p Ant. xx. 10. 

1 Ant. xx. 10. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 17 

the Jewish princes, and whom Josephus loses no oppor- 
tunity of magnifying. As to the commencement indeed 
of Herod's reign, we are furnished by Josephus with 
sufficient particulars ; for as to the nominal reign we are 
informed that he was appointed king by the Romans in 
the consulship of C. Domitius Calvinus, and C. Asinius 
Pollio, i.e. B.C. 40 r , and as to the actual reign, that the 
capture of Jerusalem, (which led to the death of Anti- 
gonus, the date of Herod's accession,) was in the consul- 
ship of M. Agrippa and Caninius Gallus, i.e. b.c. 37 s ; 
and in either case we can collect from the narrative at 
what period or season of the year the events occurred. 
But when we come to the death of Herod, no mention is 
made of the consulship or Olympiad, nor is there any 
other direct indication of the year. It would seem there- 
fore that in the records from which Josephus drew his 
materials the time of the death of Herod was not given 
with precision, so that he could only tell us in general 
terms that Herod reigned 37 years from his elevation to 
the crown by the Romans, and 34 years from the death 
of Antigonus. 

We shall now endeavour to ascertain, as far as we can, 
what must be understood by the statement in round 
numbers that Herod's nominal reign was 37 years, and 
his actual reign 34 years. The result will shew us 
whether this testimony of Josephus is or is not consistent 
with the hypothesis that Herod died in the year b.c. 4. 

The inquiry involves the investigation of two questions, 
which we must consider in order. First, Did Josephus 
intend 34 or 37 years complete or 34 or 37 years current? 
And secondly, From what terminus or part of the year 

r Ant. xiv. 14, 5, » Ant. xiv.^16, 4. 



IS THE TIME OF 

did Josephus begin to count the years, whether complete 
or current ? 

First, Did Josephus mean years complete or years cur- 
rent ? In other words, did he mean that Herod reigned 
34 or 37 years and some months over, or 34 or 37 years 
wanting some months ? The usage of the Jewish historian 
in this respect is not uniform, but it may be assumed that 
although occasionally he speaks of years as complete years, 
yet generally he refers to years as current. We shall give 
an instance of each mode of computation, from which the 
reader will see that the reign of Herod may be reckoned 
in either of the two ways, as circumstances require. 

The reign of Hyrcanus commenced on the day of the 
East, or the 22nd of September, b.c. 63*, and terminated 
three months before the Past, and therefore about Mid- 
summer b.c. 40 u , and Josephus tells us that Hyrcanus 
reigned 24 years x . We shall discuss presently from 
what terminus or part of the year Josephus usually com- 
putes the commencement of a reign ; but whether from 
the Fast b.c. 63, or from the 1st of Nisan preceding, or 
from the 1st of January preceding, in either case it is 
obvious that Josephus addresses himself to 44 years cur- 
rent, and not to 44 years complete. 

On the other hand Agrippa the Great was made 
king by Caligula in the month of March a.d. 37, and 
he died a little after the passover (March 31) of a.d. 
44, and is said to have reigned seven years. Here 

* Ant. xiv. 4, 3. Bell. i.7. 4; v. 9, 4. 

« Ant. xiv. 13, 10 ; xx. 10. Bell. i. 13, 9. Antigonus who succeeded 
Hyrcanus had reigned at the Fast of B.C. 37, when he was deposed, three 
years and three months. He had therefore begun to reign three months 
before the Fast of b.c. 40. 

1 Ant. xx. 10. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 19 

therefore the historian intends seven complete years 
with a month or two over y . 

Secondly, From what terminus or part of the year 
does Josephus begin to reckon the years of Herod's 
reign? for assuming that we have found the year and 
time of year when Herod became king, Josephus might 
compute the reign in three different modes : 1, Josephus 
might reckon the years from the commencement of the 
reign in fact, viz., from November to November, being 
the month in which Herod was king nominally in B.C. 
40, and actually in b.c 37 : or 2, Josephus might regu- 
late the years by the Jewish ecclesiastical year, which 
began on the 1st of Nisan, and so compute the first year 
of Herod from the 1st of Nisan that preceded the com- 
mencement of the reign, and the second year from the 
1st of Nisan that followed the commencement, though 
only a few months had then elapsed; or 3, Josephus 
might adapt the years of the reign to the Roman year, 
which began on the 1st of January, and so reckon the 
first year of Herod from the 1st of January that preceded 
the commencement of the reign, and the 2nd year from 
the 1st of January that followed the commencement, 
though Herod had then been only a few months on the 
throne. We shall examine each of these modes of 
computation in order. 

1st. The natural supposition would be that Josephus 
computed the years from the commencement of the reign 
in fact, viz. from November to November, and there are 
numerous instances in which Josephus reckons the reign of 
a prince in this way, viz., from the very time of the actual 

y Airo yeveaeas aycov nevTrjKoaTov eros Kal reraprov, Trjs fiacrikeias 8e 
e/3So/xoi/. Ant. xix. 8, 2. 

c2 



20 THE TIME OF 

accession. Thus the Jewish war, which broke out in the 
month of Arteinisius, or May, a.d. 66, is said to have com- 
menced in the lZth year of Nero z , that is, in the 12th 
year, as current from the 13th of October, a.d. 65, to 
the 13th of October, a.d. 66, Nero having succeeded 
Claudius on the 13th of October, a.d. 54. So Jotapata, 
which was taken in the month of Panemus, or July, a.d. 67, 
is said to have fallen in the 13th year of Nero a , that is, as 
current from the 13th of October, a.d. 66, to the 13th of 
October, a.d. 67. And again, the temple, which was 
burnt in the month of Lous, or August, a.d. 70, is said 
to have been thus destroyed in the second year of Ves- 
pasian, that is, in the second year as current from the 
1st of July a.d. 70 to the 1st of July a.d. 71, Vespasian 
having been declared emperor on July the 1st, B.C. 69 b . 
The above instances have reference to the Roman empe- 
rors, whose reigns were well known, but similar examples, 
though more rare, may be found in the history of Jewish 
kings. Thus Josephus, speaking of Herod himself, re- 
lates that the spring of b.c. 37 was in the third year of 
his reign from the time of his appointment by the Ro- 
mans in B.C. 40, that is, in the third year as current from 
November b.c 38 to November b.c 37 c . So Herod is 
said to have completed the building of Csesarea in the 
28th year of his reign, in the 192nd Olympiad <*. The 
192nd Olympiad comprised the latter half of b.c 12 and 
the first half of b.c 11. Neither of these years could be 

z AwSe/caro) pev eret ttjs Nepewos rjyepovlas. Bell. ii. 14, 4. 
a Bell. iii. 7, 36. 

b "Erei devrepco Ttjs OveaTraaidvov r/yepouias. Bell. vi. 4, 8. 
c Bell. i. 17, 8. Ant. xiv. 15, 14. 

d Ets oyboov Kal eiKoarbu e'ros ttjs j3aai\eias eVi 'OXv/wnaSos bevrepas 
Kai tvevrjKoo-Trjs Trpbs rats eKarou. Ant. xvi. 5, 1. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 21 

the 28th of Herod's reign from November b.c. 37, when 
he became king de facto. The reign intended therefore is 
that from November b.c. 40, when Herod was proclaimed 
king by the Romans, and the 28th year, as computed from 
the actual time of commencement, would be current from 
November b.c. 13 to November b.c. 12, and at Midsum- 
mer of the latter year would occur the 192nd Olympiad. 
2. Josephus may have computed the reign of Herod 
by reference to the Jewish ecclesiastical year, which began 
on the 1st of Nisan. In fact the Jews are stated in the 
Rabbinical writings to have reckoned the years of their 
princes in this way, not from the actual day of accession, 
but from the 1st of Nisan preceding, and then to have 
attributed an additional year for every subsequent 1st of 
Nisan, or New Year's day, that occurred during the 
reign 6 . So the Egyptians are said to have calculated 
the years of a king, not from the time of his assuming 
the crown, but from their month of Thoth f . To apply 
this mode of computation to the case in hand, if Herod 
began to reign nominally in November B.C. 40, and ac- 
tually in November B.C. 37, the first year would be dated 
in the one case from the 1st of Nisan b.c. 40, and in the 
other from the 1st of Nisan b.c. 37, and the second year 
would be said to commence in the one case from the 1st 
of Nisan next after November b.c. 40, and in the other 
from the 1st of Nisan next after November b.c. 37. In this 
way, if Herod lived but a day beyond the 1st of Nisan 

e Non numerant in regibus nisi a Nisano. Gemara. Bab. Nisanus 
initium anni regibus ac dies quidem unus in anno (viz. post calendas 
Nisani) instar anni computatur. lb. Unus dies in anni fine pro anno nu- 
merator. lb. see Anger, p. 9, note (x). Wieseler, 52, note 1. 

f See Anger, 15. 



22 THE TIME OF 

b.c. 4, a new year would have begun, and then Herod 
would be considered to have reigned 37 years from his 
accession in November b.c. 40, and 34 years from his 
accession in b.c. 37. 

There appear, however, to be some objections to this 
hypothesis • for as Josephus was writing at Rome and 
for Gentiles, he w T as more likely to adopt the Roman than 
the Jewish mode of measuring time ; and accordingly it 
is worthy of remark, that in his works he furnishes the 
dates of important public events, not by reference to the 
Jewish year at all, but to the Roman consulships, and 
occasionally to the Greek Olympiads. 

As regards the reign of Herod in particular, it is at 
least doubtful whether this mode of computation would 
harmonize, as contended by Wieseler and others, with 
the hypothesis that Herod's death occurred in b.c. 4 ; 
for it will be seen from the table in a former page, that 
Herod probably died on the very day (March 27) on 
the evening of which the 1st of Nisan was to commence ; 
and if the death of Herod at all preceded, even by a few 
hours, the 1st of Nisan, then this method of reckoning 
would not account for the 37 or 34 years attributed by 
Josephus to the reign of Herod. 

3rdly. Another and less objectionable hypothesis is, 
that Josephus writing at Rome and for the readers of 
the Roman empire, had in his mind, when speaking of a 
prince's reign in round numbers, the commencement of 
the Roman year, known universally to begin from the 
1st of January. Thus if Herod was made king by the 
Romans in November b.c 40, Josephus might naturally 
antedate the first year of the reign as from the 1st of Jan. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 23 

B.C. 40, and consider the 1st of Jan. b.c. 39 as the com- 
mencement of the second year. So if Herod became king 
de facto by the death of Antigonus in Nov. b.c 37, the 
first year of Herod's actual reign might be referred back 
to the 1st of Jan. b.c 37, and the 1st of Jan. b.c 36, 
might be taken as the second year. Assuming that Herod 
died at the end of March b.c 4, the year from the 1st of 
Jan. b.c 4 would thus be reckoned as another year, 
though only three months of it had elapsed ; and in this 
way Herod would be said at the time of his death, in 
the spring of b.c 4, to have reigned 37 consular years 
from his appointment by the Romans in b.c 40, and 34 
consular years from the death of Antigonus in b.c 37. 

We shall produce a succession of instances in which 
Josephus has computed the years in this manner. 

1. The reign of Hyrcanus commenced, as before stated, 
on the day of the Past, or 22nd of Sep. b.c 63 d , and 
terminated three months before the Fast, or about Mid- 
summer b.c 40 e . Thus Hyrcanus did not actually reign 

23 years complete, and yet Josephus attributes to him 

24 years f , that is, the consular year b.c 63 was reckoned 
as one year, and the consular year b.c 40 as another year. 

2. The capture of Jerusalem at the Fast in b.c 37, is 
said to have occurred at an interval of 27 years from the 
capture of Jerusalem at the Fast in b.c 63 s; that is, 
the space between the two events embraced 27 consul- 
ships, as reckoned from the 1st of Jan. in each year. 

d Ant, xiv. 4, 3. Bell. i. 7, 4 ; v. 9, 4. 

e Ant. xiv. 13, 10 ; xx. 10. Bell. i. 13, 9. 

f "Hp£;e 8e . . . 6 'Ypxavos Te<r<rapa ical t'lKoai. Ant. XX. 10. 

s Mera err] e'lKoai /cat inra. Ant. xiv. 16, 4. 



24 THE TIME OF 

3. The battle of Actium, which was on the 2nd of 
Sep. b.c. 31, is placed by Josephus in the 7th year 
of the reign of Herod, from the death of Antigonus, in 
Nov. b.c. 37 \ In fact Herod had not completed his 
6th year, but the period from Nov. B.C. 37 to Sep. B.C. 
31, included 7 successive consular years. 

4. We read in Josephus, " Now in this year, being the 
\?>th of Herod, the greatest calamities overtook the coun- 
try 1 ." Of what year is the historian speaking? Of the 
consular year b.c. 25, as may be thus clearly shewn. 
Josephus proceeds to relate that a dreadful famine arose 
in this year from the failure of the crops, from the want 
of rain in the past Autumn and the present Spring; and 
that from the dearth arose plagues amongst the people ; 
but that nevertheless the seed was sown as usual, in the 
hope of better success at the next harvest. So ended 
the first year of the famine. But in the newt year there 
was a failure of the crops for the second time, (/JiySe to 
Sevrepov avelcrrj^ rrjs yrjs. Ant. xv. 9, 1,) and Herod 
now became the subject of invective from the people, 
who, of course, attributed their distress to the want of 
foresight in their ruler. In this emergency Herod sent 
for corn into Egypt. The Romans were very jealous of 
the exportation of corn from this quarter to any country 
but Rome itself; but it happened fortunately that just 
at this juncture Petronius assumed the prefecture of 
Egypt; (TLeTpcoviov rrjv lirapyiav a7roKalaapo9 elArjcfio- 
tos. Ant. xv. 9, 2 ;) and Petronius was a personal friend 

h 'E/3So'/xou ovros 'Hpabr) rrjs (Sa<ri\etas erovs. Ant. xv. 5, 2. nar 
e'ros fiev t?]s fiaaikeias e^8o[xov. Bell. i. 19, 3. 
! Jos. Ant. xv. 9, 1. 



THE BIRTH OE CHRIST. 25 

of Herod, so that the latter had no difficulty in obtaining 
leave from him to export corn into Judsea. Herod now 
regained the good will of his subjects by supplying their 
present necessities, and by furnishing the Syrians with 
seed, which the following year produced an abundant 
harvest. About the same time with these importations 
from Egypt, (7repl Se rov yjpdvov ekeivov, Ant. xv. 9, 3,) 
iElius Gallus, whom Petronius had succeeded as gover- 
nor of Egypt, made an expedition into Arabia by com- 
mand of the emperor, and Herod sent him 500 auxilia- 
ries. Here we have a clue to the exact period of which 
Josephus is speaking. yElius Gallus made his campaign 
in Arabia, and Petronius took his place as governor of 
Egypt, in the year b.c. 24 k . This then was the year in 
which Herod, by favour of his friend Petronius, procured 
corn from Egypt ; and if so, the preceding year, the first 
of the famine and the 13th of Herod, was the year b.c. 
25. It follows that Josephus computed the first year of 
Herod from the 1st of Jan. b.c. 37, though Herod did not 
actually become king until the following November ; for 
in this way only could the 13th year of Herod be made 
to comprise the harvest of b.c. 25, when the famine 
began. 

5. Augustus visited Syria at Midsummer b.c. 20, and 
at this time it is said that the 17th year of the reign of 
Herod from the death of Antigonus in Nov. b.c. 37 was 
past, and consequently that the 18th year was current 1 . 
In fact, Herod had not completed his 17th year, but Jo- 

k See Clinton's Fasti Hellenici. 

H8778' avrov ttjs (3a<ri\eias enraKaiSeKdrov irapekdovros erovs Kalcrap 
fls Ivplav cKpUero. Ant. xv. 10, 3. 



26 THE TIME OF 

sephus evidently reckons by consular years, and 17 con- 
sulships had expired since the death of Antigonus. 

6. The capture of Jerusalem, on the 8th of Gorpiaeus, 
or September, a.d. 70, is said to have occurred 107 years 
after the accession of Herod in Nov. b.c. 37 m , which 
would be correct on one hypothesis, and one only, viz., 
that Josephus meant consular years, and reckoned from 
every 1st of January, and that fragments of consular 
years were counted as whole years. 

After these repeated instances of Josephus's computa- 
tion by consular years, we can have no difficulty in con- 
cluding that Josephus, in speaking of the duration of 
Herod's reign, measured it by the number of consulships 
embraced within its compass. And then if Herod was 
king nominally in Nov. B.C. 40, and died in March b.c. 
4, he would be said to have reigned 37 years ; and if he 
became king actually in Nov. b.c 37, and died in March 
b.c. 4, he would be said to have reigned 34 years. 

The result of the foregoing discussion is, that the 
death of Herod the Great must be placed in the month 
of March b.c 4 ; and having laid this foundation, we 
come next to the inquiry in what year and at what 
season of the year was the birth of Christ, which a little 
preceded the death of Herod. 

The events that happened between the birth of Christ 
and the death of Herod are briefly these : the circum- 
cision on the Sth day, the presentation in the temple 
on the 40th day from the birth, the visit of the 
magi, the flight into Egypt, and the slaughter of 
the innocents. These occurrences demand an inter- 

m Xpouos 8e tovtcov i'ri) npos rots eaaxov enra. Ant. XX. 10. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 27 

val of about six months, which would carry us back, as 
Herod died in March b.c 4, to the month of Septem- 
ber, b.c. 5. We can ascertain the exact time with some 
degree of precision as follows. The birth of Christ 
was six months later than that of John the Baptist 11 , 
and we have therefore only to determine at what 
period happened the birth of the latter. This we can 
do from the circumstance that the conception of John 
was at the time when his father Zacharias was minister- 
ing in his turn according to the usual .rota in the 
temple. The priests of the Jews, as is well known, 
were distributed into twenty-four courses, each course 
discharging the office for a week at a time, so that every 
course served twice in the year with a six months' in- 
termission. The first course began on the first sabbath 
after the Feast of Tabernacles, (called perhaps from this 
the TTpwrov ora(3(3aroi> } ) and again on the first sabbath 
after the Feast of the Passover, (hence possibly called 
the o-d(3(3a,T0i> 8evrepo7rpcoTOi>.) Zacharias was of the 
course of Abia, that is, the 8th course, which began its 
half-yearly ministrations on the 12th of Chisleu and the 
17th of Sivan . In the year b.c 6 the 12th of Chisleu 
was the 21st of Nov. and the 17th of Sivan was the 2nd 
of June p . The conception of John must have been 
at the latter time, on the supposition that Christ was 
born about six months before the death of Herod, and 
then Christ would be born in September and John would 
be born six months before in March, and the concep- 

n 'Ev 8e rep firjvl ra> cktS aTrecrTakr) k.t.X. Luke i. 26. Kcu ovros pr)i> 
euros io-TLv k.t.X. Luke i. 36. 

° See Lightfoot. p See Gres well's Prolegomena. 



28 THE TIME OF THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 

tion of John would be nine months before that, or in June 
of the preceding year. Thus the birth of John would be 
about the 2nd of March b.c. 5, and the birth of Christ 
six months later, or about the 2nd of September b.c. 5. 
It may be added in confirmation of this hypothesis that 
our Saviour was born at a time when the shepherds and 
their flocks were still in the open fields' 1 , and the custom 
in Judaea was to turn out the cattle for the summer after 
the Passover, and to bring them back for the winter in 
the month of October r . 

q Luke ii. 8. r Anger, p. 12- 



CHAPTER II. 

THE TIME OP COMMENCEMENT AND DURATION OE OTJB ~1 

SAVIOtm's MINISTRY. 

The ministry of John the Baptist preceded that of 
Christ, and we shall therefore begin with the inquiry 
at what period John the Baptist first opened his mission. 
Fortunately upon this point we are not left to conjecture, 
as Luke, apparently considering the call of John an 
important epoch as being the first promulgation of the 
Christian revelation, has marked its commencement in 
the most solemn and emphatic manner. His words are, 
" Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius 
Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and 
Herod (Antipas) being tetrarch of Galilee, and his 
brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of 
Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, 
Annas and Caiaphas being high priests, the word of 
God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilder- 
ness 8 ." The fifteenth year of Tiberius began on the 19th 
of Aug. a.d. 28, and therefore John entered upon his 
office sometime between the 19th of Aug. a.d. 28, and 
the 19th of Aug. a.d. 29, during which period, as stated 
by Luke, Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judaea, 

s Luke iii. 1. 



30 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

Herod Antipas was tetrarcli of Galilee, and Herod 
Philip was tetrarcli of Trachonitis, and Caiaphas, with 
Annas his father-in-law, was high priest. 

One would suppose that here no door was open to 
controversy, and yet some chronologers, labouring under 
the impression that the mission of John in a.d. 28 — 29 
cannot be reconciled with the statement of Luke that 
Jesus when He began, soon after John, was of about 
30 years, (whereas Jesus, if born B.C. 5, would in a.d. 
28 — 29 be about 33,) have endeavoured to overthrow the 
express testimony of Luke as to the "fifteenth year of 
Tiberius by the assertion that the reign of Tiberius 
was computed by him not in the ordinary mode from 
the 19th of Aug. a.d. 14, the death of Augustus, but 
from some point of time two years earlier, in a.d. 12. 
They rely upon the passages in Tacitus, Suetonius, and 
Veil. Paterculus, which will be found in the note 1 , but 
which, when taken together, shew only that in a.d. 12 
large powers were conferred on Tiberius, but not that he 
was then emperor jointly with Augustus, or that his 
reign was ever thought to commence from that period. 

Other chronologers, as Burton, admit that the fifteenth 
year of Tiberius must begin in a.d. 14, but then they 
maintain that instead of being computed from the 19th 

4 Nero solus e privignis erat : illuc cuncta vergere : Alius, collega im- 
perii, consors tribunicise potestatis adsumitur. Tac. Ann. i. 3. Ac non 
multo post lege per consules lata ut provincias cum Augusto communiter 
administraret simulque censum ageret, condito lustro in lllyricum pro- 
fectus est. Suet. Tib. 21. Senatus populusque Romanus, postulante patre 
ejus, ut eequum ei jus in omnibus provinciis exercitibusque esset quam 
erat ipsi, decreto complexus est ; etenim absurdum erat non esse sub illo 
quEe ab illo vindicabantur, et q\ii ad opera ferendam primus erat, ad vin- 
dicandum honorem non judicari parem. Veil. Pat. ii. 121. 



AND DURATION OP OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 31 

of Aug. of that year it must be referred back to the 
first of January of the same year; for as the Romans 
reckoned their year from the first of January to the 
first of January, the whole year within these limits was 
called the fifteenth year of Tiberius. 

To these hypotheses a satisfactory answer can be 
given, viz., that the reign of Tiberius as beginning 
from the 19th of Aug., a.d. 14, was as well known a 
date in the time of Luke as the reign of Queen Victoria 
in our own day, and that no single case can be pro- 
duced in which the years of Tiberius were reckoned 
in any other manner. It would be needless to adduce 
all the instances, but we shall select a few from the 
historians of greatest credit. 

Tacitus opens the fourth book of his Annals with 
these words, " C. Asinius and C. Antistius being 
consuls it was the ninth year of Tiberius V Thus 
he makes the 1st of Jan. a.d. 23, (the year of this 
consulship,) coincide with the ninth year of Tiberius, 
which could only be the case on the assumption that the 
ninth year commenced on the 19th of Aug. a.d. 22, and 
ended, not on the 31st of Dec. a.d. 22, but on the 19th of 
Aug. a.d. 23. So Pliny the Elder refers the same consul- 
ship to the same year of Tiberius : " In the 9th year of the 
reign of Tiberius, in the consulship of C. Asinius Pollio 
and C. Antistius Vetus x ." That is, the consulship of 
Asinius Pollio and Antistius Vetus, reckoned from the 1st 
of Jan. a.d. 23, fell in the ninth year of Tiberius up to 

u C. Asinio, C. Antistio consulibus nonus Tiberius annus erat. 

Tiberii domum principatus novo anno. . . . C. Asinio Pollione, C. 
Antistio Vetere consulibus. Plin. N. H. xxsiii. 8. 



32 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

the 19th of Aug. a.d. 23, when the tenth year would 
commence. Dion Cassius again reckons in the same 
way, for in speaking of the year a.d. 24, he mentions, 
that in the course of it (viz. on the 19th of Aug.) " ten 
years of the reign of Tiberius expired*." There can be 
no higher authority upon this subject than that of Jo- 
sephus, a Jew, and a contemporary of Luke. And evi- 
dently Josephus computes the reign of Tiberius from the 
19th of Aug. a.d. 14 j for he assigns the death of Herod 
Philip in a.d. 34, to the 20th year of Tiberius, which 
the year a.d. 34 was up to the 19th of Aug. of that 
year 2 . And again, he computes the reign of Tiberius 
at 22 years, 5 months, and 3 days 3 ; or in another place, 
at 22 years, 6 months, and 3 days b ; and as the death of 
Tiberius occurred on the 16th of March a.d. 37, Jose- 
phus of course refers the commencement of the reign 
to the 19th of Aug. a.d. 14. 

There are two coins of Antioch, the domicile, if not the 
native place of Luke, which may be thought to bear upon 
this question. One has the head of Tiberius, with the 
inscription, KAI2AP 2EBA2T02 TM. i.e. "Csesar 
Augustus, the 43rd year," i.e. of the Actian era, commenc- 
ing from the 2nd of Sep., b.c 31, and therefore struck in 
a.d. 12—13. The title of 2EBA2T02 or Augustus, here 
applied to Tiberius, confirms the statement of Tacitus, Sue- 
tonius, and Paterculus, that Tiberius, so early as a.d. 12, 

y Aie\06vTcov 8e rav Sena irav rrjs dpxrjs airov. Dion. Ivii. 24. 

z Tore Se Ka\ &l\unros ('Hpa>8ov 8e f)v dSeXcpos) Tehevra rbv ftiov c\hocttS> 
uev iviavrat Trjs Tifieplov dpxrjs, fjyrjo-dpevos 8e avros enra nai rpiaKovra 
rrjs TpaxcoviriSos Kai Ta.vkaviTi.8os- Kai rov Baravalcov edvovs npos avrals. 
Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 6. 

a Ant. xviii. 6, 10. b Bell. ii. 9, 5. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR.' S MINISTRY. 33 

was invested with large powers. On the other hand we 
have another coin of Antioch, with the head of Tiberius, 
and the letter A, and the date of the Actian era, EM 
or 45, equivalent to a.d. II — 15. Here the letter A 
denotes the first year of the reign of Tiberius, as other 
coins with the Actian date ZM or 47, equivalent to a.d. 
16 — 17, have the letter V, denoting the third year of his 
reign c . 

We shall not multiply examples to prove what we 
think must be plain, that as in the time of Luke the 
reign of Tiberius was a well-known date, computed from 
Aug. the 19th, a.d. 14, the Evangelist, in fixing the 
epoch of the commencement of John's ministry in the 
most formal manner, could not possibly have used a dif- 
ferent and unheard-of mode of reckoning without some 
notice to the reader. 

We shall assume, therefore, that John began to raise 
his voice in the wilderness some time between Aug. 
the 19th, a.d. 28, and Aug. the 19th, a.d. 29. It jre- 
mains for us to ascertain at what precise period of this 
fifteenth year of Tiberius his ministry commenced, and 
how soon afterwards it was followed by the preaching 
of our Lord. After much hesitation upon the subject 
we think that John probably opened his mission about 
the Passover, or the middle of April, a.d. 29 ; and that 
as Christ was born six months later than John, so 
Christ succeeded John in the ministry at about, the 
same interval of time, viz. in the month of October of 
the same year. The correctness of these dates will mainly 
depend on the harmony of the subsequent chronology ; 

c See Eckhel. 
D 



84 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

but we shall here adduce two passages from the New 
Testament which seem to furnish a confirmation of these 
hypotheses. We must premise that if John began at the 
Passover a.d. 29, and Christ was crucified (as we shall 
see was the case) at the Passover a.d. 33, the doctrine 
of repentance promulgated by John would have been 
preached to the Jews up to the time of our Lord's death 
for four years complete ; and if Jesus began his ministry 
in October a.d. 29, the duration of it up to the Passover 
a.d. 33, would be just three years and six months. 

The first of the passages alluded to is contained in the 
parable, recorded by St. Luke, of the fig-tree, the type 
of Jerusalem. God is represented as saying, "Behold, 
these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree 
and find none : cut it down ; why cumbereth it the 
ground c ?" The vine-dresser (who must be understood 
to be Christ Himself) answers, " Lord, let it alone this 
year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it : and if it 
bear fruit, well : and if not, then after that Thou shalt cut 
it downV This parable was delivered in the last year 
of Christ's ministry, and during which Christ did more 
particularly dig about the fig-tree, by attending all the 
great feasts at Jerusalem, which previously from circum- 
stances He had been generally obliged to forego. We 
have then four years here distinctly mentioned, during 
which the Jews, from the preaching of John and of Christ, 
ought to have borne fruits of repentance ; and if we carry 
back these four years, from the Passover a.d. 33, which 
was the close, we arrive at the Passover a.d. 29 as the 
commencement. It was, therefore, at the latter period, 

c Luke xiii. 7. d Luke xiii. 8, 9. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 3o 

that John first raised his warning voice, "Bring forth 
fruits meet for repentance 6 ." " Now is the axe laid unto 
the root of the trees ; therefore every tree which bringeth 
not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the 
fire'." 

The other passage is also in St. Luke, and occurs 
during our Saviour's visit to His own city Nazareth. 
They would not receive Him ; and Christ tells them that 
He was not sent to all, but only to a few ; and He illus- 
trates His own mission by that of Elias, who in the time 
of the famine was commissioned only to relieve the poor 
widow of Sarepta. But the manner in which Christ ex- 
presses Himself is remarkable ; " Many widows were in 
Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up 
three years and six months, when great famine was 
throughout all the land; but unto none of them was 
Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a 
woman that was a widow g ." Here it is difficult to say 
why such stress should have been laid upon the three 
years and six months, unless the mission of Elias during 
that time were a type of the period of our Lord's own 
ministry. According to our hypothesis, if Christ began 
in October a.d. 29, He did bring relief to Israel for three 
years and six months, viz., until the Passover a.d. 83 ; 
and if the words of our Saviour have a reference to this 
circumstance, they are full of meaning. 

We shall therefore start upon the basis that Jesus was 
baptized by John in the month of October a.d. 29. 
Jesus after His baptism returned into the wilderness and 

e Matt. iii. 8. f Matt. iii. 10. g Luke iv. 25. 

D 2 



36 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

was tempted forty days, and then returned to John at 
■Bethabara, when John seeing Him coming, gave his 
testimony, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sins of the world 11 ." " And John bare record, 
saying, I saio the Spirit descending from heaven like a 
dove, and it abode upon Him 1 ." This therefore would 
take place in the month of November. 

We have here in the narrative of John a note of time 
to which we must advert. The very day before the 
arrival of Jesus an embassy from the Sanhedrim con- 
sisting of Pharisees had come to John to inquire into his 
pretensions as the Messiah. The Pharisees it will be 
remembered were the religious sect of the Jews, and 
devoted themselves to the study of the Scriptures with 
the glosses and traditions, and they were strongly im- 
pressed with the idea at this time, as appears from 
Josephus, that the Messiah was about to declare Him- 
self k . Pretenders to the character had not unfrequently 
stepped forth, and had again sunk into the insignificance 
from which they had sprung. At last came John the 
Baptist preaching in the wilderness, and when after a 
time, instead of losing ground as previous impostors had 
done, he was notoriously advancing, so that multitudes 
from the surrounding country flocked to his baptism, 
and " all men mused in their hearts whether he were 
the Christ or not 1 , 3 ' the Pharisees, as the conservators 
of the Jewish religion, assembled the Sanhedrim upon so 
serious a matter, and procured the dispatch of a commis- 
sion composed of Priests and Levites of the Pharisaic sect m 

h John i. 29. ! John i. 32. k Jos. Ant. xvii. 2, 4. 
i Luke iii. 15. - John i. 19, 24. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 37 

to Bethabara to investigate the claims of the Baptist. 
All this agrees very well with the dates we have sup- 
posed, for if John began his ministry in April a.d. 29, 
and Christ returned to Bethabara in November, there 
was an interval of seven months, during which John 
might easily have attracted converts in sufficient numbers 
to excite attention and jealousy from the authorities at 
Jerusalem. 

After a few intervening days, during which Philip 
was called to be a disciple, Jesus arrived at Cana in 
Galilee , where apparently His mother Mary (Joseph 
being dead) and his brethren were then residing. Here 
was a marriage feast, probably of some relative, and Mary 
and Jesus, and from courtesy His disciples also, (not many 
perhaps at that period,) were invited. On this occasion 
Jesus performed His first miracle by changing the water 
into wine. It would seem that this was also the only 
miracle performed at this time in Galilee, " His hour not 
being yet come p ," for when in the following year He 
healed the nobleman's son at Capernaum, John surprises 
us by the remark that it was only His second miracle in 
Galilee \ 

Jesus remained at Cana till the close of the year 
a.d. 29, and during the early part of the following year 
a.d. 30, and then a short time before the Passover went 
down with His mother and brethren to Capernaum. 
This was after some interval from His arrival at Cana, 
for John prefaces the journey to Capernaum with the 
words "After this," (fierce tovto\) equivalent to the 

John ii. 1. p John ii. 4. 

1 John iv. 54. . r John ii. 12. 



38 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

expression " After these things," (/xera ravra,') in other 
places 5 , and indicating a break in the narrative. We 
may remark by the way that the Gospel of St. John is 
clearly fragmentary, and not intended to be a full history 
of our Saviour's ministry. It is supplementary only to 
the other Gospels, as indeed appears from a passage 
already referred to, "And John bare record, saying, 
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, 
and it abode upon Him •" for reference is here made to 
the descent of the Spirit upon Christ at His baptism, a 
circumstance not found in St. John at all, but only in 
the Gospel of St. Luke*. 

The sojourn of Jesus at Capernaum was brief, " Not 
many days," {pv iroWas rmepas u .) The Passover was 
nigh, and Jesus and His disciples went up to Jerusalem 
to celebrate the feast, which this year, a.d. 30, was March 
the 22nd. x 

At Jerusalem Jesus opened His public ministry by 
clearing the temple of the cattle-dealers and money- 
changers and other defilements; and the indignation 
of the Jews at this proceeding furnishes us with a chro- 
nological premiss of some importance. They asked Him 
for a sign or miracle in justification. Jesus said, " De- 
stroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." 
They answered, " Forty and sice years has this temple 
(o vaos ovtos) been building, and wilt Thou rear it up in 
three days 7 ?" To understand this we must bear in mind 

9 John v. 1 ; vi. 1 ; iii. 22. l Luke iii. 21. n John ii. 12. 

x kcil iyyvs fjv to ttcktx - t "> v 'lovdaiav Kal dvefirj els 'lepoo-uXv/ia 6 'lrjaovs, 
John ii. 12 ; and that His disciples went with Him, see v. 17, 22. 
y T-ecro-apdiiovra Kal e£ erecrtj/ w/coSo/xjj^ 6 paos ovtos. John ii. 20. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 39 

that Herod the Great had begun the restoration of the 
temple, and that the fabric was not fully completed 
until the year which preceded the Jewish war, viz. 
a.d. 65 z . At the time when these words were spoken 
46 years had elapsed since the commencement, and if 
we can ascertain in what year Herod first began the 
structure we shall be able to deduce the year of the 
Passover when the expression was used. 

The circumstances under which Herod undertook to 
rebuild the temple were these. In the latter part of the 
year b.c. 20, Augustus arrived at Antioch, and Herod 
shortly afterwards visited him there and established him- 
self highly in the emperor's favour a . Before winter set in 
Augustus sailed to Samos b , and Herod returned to Jeru- 
salem ; and in order to conciliate the Jews, remitted to 
them one third of their taxes . He next erected a temple 
to Augustus in the neighbourhood of Paneas, afterwards 
Caesarea Philippi d . He then for the first time unfolded 
to his countrymen the grand design of taking down the 
temple of God and restoring it on a much more magni- 
ficent scale. What induced him to undertake so vast a 
work was, as we learn from Josephus, the distinguished 
favour in which he now stood with the Romans e ; so 
that the conception was certainly posterior to the meeting 
of Herod with Augustus at Antioch in a.d. 20. In the 
Antiquities Josephus refers the undertaking to the nine- 

z Jos. Ant. xs. 9, 7. a Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 3. b Dion, liv. 9. 

c Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 4. d Jos. Ant. xv. 10, 3. 

e "EvdiV eVi irXelo-Tov pkv ev8mp.ovias npovKO^ev, els pel^ov 8e e£rjp8r) 
cppovrjua Kai to Tvkeov Trjs peyahovo'ias eirireivev els evo-efieiav. Jos. Bell. 
i. 20, 4. To be peyiarov, (piXoi Kai bt evvoias oi iravjav as eiros elnelu 
Kparovvres 'Poifialoi. Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 1. 



40 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

teentli year of Herod's reign, or b.c. 19 f ; and in the 
Wars the expression is YlevTeKaideKara) yovv er€L g , 
clearly a mistake, and probably mis written for another 
word much resembling it, viz. ivveaKaiSeKarq), or with 
the aspirate HENNEAKAIAEKATO, i. e. the nine- 
teenth year, as stated in the Antiquities. Be this as 
it may, Josephus is here speaking of the laying the 
foundations, and not the commencement of the holy 
edifice itself, or pacts' as opposed to the platform on 
which it stood. Herod had first of all some difficulty in 
obtaining the consent of the people, who were naturally 
apprehensive that the structure might be taken down 
and never restored at all. At last it was agreed that 
Herod should not remove a stone of the temple until 
all should be in readiness for the erection of the new 
fabric. Herod now employed himself in collecting the 
most costly materials for the work from various quarters, 
and a thousand wagons were made ready for the trans- 
port. He also procured 10,000 skilful artisans for laying 
the foundations and constructing the cloisters : but as 
to the vaos or temple itself, it could only be built by 
the priests, and for this purpose 1,000 priests were 
apprenticed as masons and carpenters to learn the ne- 
cessary handicrafts 11 . As the temple was remarkable for 
its exquisite workmanship, these priests must have been 
occupied some time in learning their trades. Now we 
may fairly allow two years for the full preparations 



1 ' OKTOoKatSenaTov rrjs 'Hpd>8ov @acn\elas yeyovoros cviavrov. Ant. XV. 11, 1 ; 
where yeyovoros seems equivalent to napekduvros in Ant. xv. 10, 3; viz. 
" being passed." 

e Jos. Bell. i. 21, 1. h Jos. Ant. xv. 1 1, 1. 2. 



AMD DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUll's MINISTRY. 41 

of the materials, the completion of the foundations and 
cloisters, and for the training of the priests. Tf we sup- 
pose that Herod first entered upon his design about the 
Passover of b.c. 19 (six months after his intimacy with 
Augustus at Antioch), the temple itself or vaos would be 
commenced about the Passover of b.c. 17. And if we 
reckon forward 46 years from this date it will bring us 
to the Passover of a. d. 30. It is not a little remarkable 
that Josephus, in speaking of the building of the vaos 
or temple itself as distinct from the foundations and 
cloisters, uses the expression, wKodofirjOr} Se 6 vaos, &C. 1 , 
corresponding word for word with the language of the 
Evangelist, TecraapaKovra Kal eij erecnv G)Ko8o/jLr/@7] 
6 vaos ovros. St. John and Josephus are manifestly 
speaking of the same subject-matter. 

Jesus then went up to Jerusalem at the Passover 
a.d. 30, but at the conclusion of the feast He did not 
return to Galilee, but intended, if the Jews would suffer 
Him, to continue the prosecution of His public ministry 
at the capital of the nation. We are expressly informed 
that He worked wonderful miracles at Jerusalem, and 
that many believed on Him k . The large majority how- 
ever were offended at Him, and plotted against His life, 
so that while He still remained at Jerusalem He was 
obliged to withdraw into privacy 1 . And it was during 
this seclusion that Nicodemus, a member of the San- 
hedrim, came to Him by night for fear of the Jews m . 

Not long after, Jesus was apparently compelled by the 
machinations of His enemies to quit Jerusalem, but He 

1 Jos. Ant. xv. 11, 3. k John ii. 23. 

1 John ii. 24. m John iii. 1. 



42 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

retired no farther than was necessary, and opened His 
ministry in some part of Judaea 11 , perhaps the neighbour- 
hood of Ephraim, which was again visited by Him at a 
later period . Here He continued preaching and mak- 
ing converts for some time, (/cat e'/cet Sierpifie, John iii. 
22,) say for seven or eight months. That His sojourn 
there was of some duration is evident, from the manner 
in which John's disciples were affected by it. John at 
this time was baptizing at iEnon near Salim, for the con- 
venience of the water there p ,-the summer droughts still 
continuing and the November rains not having yet com- 
menced, John's disciples therefore came to the Baptist, 
and said, " Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, 
to whom thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, 
and all men come to Him*." Jesus therefore had been 
long enough at Ephraim to have collected a multitude of 
converts, and yet not so long but that the disciples of 
John could refer to the Baptist's testimony at Bethabara 
as a recent event. This agrees with the foregoing dates, 
for Jesus, after His baptism and temptation, had returned 
to John at Bethabara in November, a.d. 29, and He 
was now baptizing in Judaea in the Summer or Autumn 
of the following year, a.d. 30. 

When Jesus had exercised His ministry for seven 
months in Judaea, He withdrew from thence into Galilee 
by way of Sychar, a city on the road to Galilee through 
Samaria. At noon He was weary, and sat upon the well 
near the city, while His disciples went to purchase pro- 
visions in Sychar itself. During their absence, a woman 
of Sychar (and therefore of Samaria, or a Samaritan, 

" John iii. 1. ° John xi. 54. p John iii. 23. i John iii. 26. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOURS MINISTRY. 43 

4k 7-779 Xa/Aapela?, John iv. 7 5 ) came to the well, and the 
discourse of Jesus which followed, and must be familiar 
to the reader, made such an impression on her that she 
left her pitcher and ran to the city, and published every- 
where that she had found the Messiah. Upon this a 
multitude poured forth from the city and were hastening 
to Jesus (-rjpyovro irpos avrov, John iv. 30). As they 
were on the way {iv rep fxera^v, John iv. 31) the dis- 
ciples returned, and Jesus seeing the crowd approaching 
from the city, pointed them out to His disciples and re- 
marked how rapidly the harvest had grown up from the 
word that He had only just before sown : " Say not ye, 
There are yet four months, and then cometh the harvest ? 
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the 
fields ; for they are white already to harvest 1 ." Presently 
the people of Sychar arrived {rjXOov irpos clvtov, John 
iv. 40) and intreated Him to remain with them, which 
He did for two days. Now it will be observed that the 
expression is not general, "Say not ye there are four 
months, (viz., from seed-time,) and then cometh the har- 
vest," but " Say not ye, there are yet (ert) four months, 
and then cometh the harvest ;" so that at the time when 
this was spoken there was an interval of four months 
before the usual season of gathering in the crops. In 
Judaea the harvest was ready in March, about the time 
of the Passover. Jesus therefore was at Sychar four 
months before, or about November a.d. 30. This re- 
ceives some confirmation from the circumstance that 
Jesus was journeying at mid-day, which at the height of 
summer would be at least unusual. 

John assigns as the reason for this retreat of Jesus 

r John iv. 35. 



41 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

into Galilee, that the Pharisees, who had forced Him to 
retire from Jerusalem, were again jealous of His success, 
and that Jesus withdrew to avoid their conspiracies : 
" when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that 
Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, He 
left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee s ." But in 
Matthew we read, " Now when Jesus had heard (<xkov- 
cra?) that John was cast into prison, He departed into 
Galilee 4 ." Perhaps the two causes were connected to- 
gether. John was favoured by Herod Antipas himself, 
and would never have been cast into prison had it not 
been for the machinations of others. It is likely that 
the Pharisees, from religious jealousy, co-operated with 
Herodias, the personal enemy of John, in working his 
ruin. Unless we understand something of this kind, the 
passage in St. Matthew is scarcely intelligible, for the im- 
prisonment of John by Herod would by itself be anything 
but a reason for Christ retiring into the jurisdiction of 
Herod, but if Herod himself was friendly to John, and 
John's imprisonment was brought about, at least in part, 
by the intrigues of the Pharisees, we perceive at once 
why Jesus should avoid the jurisdiction of the hostile 
Pharisees and seek shelter in the tetrarchy of Herod. 

Whatever may have been the immediate occasion 
of Jesus's departure into Galilee, it is clear that the 
event was contemporaneous or nearly so with the im- 
prisonment of John; for not only Matthew, but also 
Mark" connects the commencement of Christ's ministry 
in Galilee with the preceding imprisonment of the 
Baptist. As the persecution of John arose, at least in 
part, from the spite against him of Herodias, formerly 

5 John iv. 1, 3. * Matt. iy. 12. u Mark i. 14. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 45 

the wife of Philip (not the tetrarch) and now of Herod 
Antipas, and whose second marriage had been rebuked 
by John, it will be necessary to shew that Herod Antipas 
at this time (the end of a.d. 30) was living with Herodias, 
and that his marriage to her was still a recent event. 

The circumstances were as follows. Antipas (called by 
our Saviour " that fox,") was a crafty monarch, and had 
contrived by fawning flatteries, and the meanest artifices, 
to insinuate himself into the favour of the Emperor Tibe- 
rius. In a.d. 29 died Livia, or Julia, the wife of Augus- 
tus, and mother of Tiberius 7 . Caligula, then a youth, 
delivered her funeral oration 2 , and she was interred in 
the tomb of Augustus, and at the same time the ladies 
of Rome were decreed to wear mourning for a whole 
year a . Addresses of condolence waited on the emperor 
from all quarters, and Antipas, amongst others, made a 
voyage to Rome for the purpose. Livia, or Julia, had 
held some valuable possessions in Judaea, viz., Jainnia, 
and the palm-groves of Phasaelis b ; and perhaps the artful 
tetrarch may have cherished the hope of obtaining a 
grant of them from the emperor, his patron, for Herod 
had built two cities in honour of the imperial family, 
Tiberias, after the name of the emperor, and Julias, after 
the name of Livia herself . Antipas, on his way from 
Galilee to the sea-side, paid a visit to his brother Philip, 
when he became enamoured of Philip's wife Herodias. 
Antipas had been married for some years to a daughter 
of Aretas, king of Petra, and as Philip had a daughter 
Salome by Herodias, her marriage to a brother of Philip 

y Tac. Ann. v. 1. z Ibid. a Dion, lviii. 2. 

t> Jos. Bell. ii. 9, 1. c Ant. xviii. 2, 1, 3. Bell. ii. 9, 1. 



46 THE TIME OP COMMENCEMENT 

would be a most heinous infraction of the Jewish law. 
The unprincipled Antipas, however, cast aside all scru- 
ples, and Herodias was induced to enter into a compact 
with him, that on his return from Rome she should elope 
from Philip and become the wife of Antipas. This of 
course would embroil Antipas with the king of Petra; and. 
possibly now, in anticipation of such a result, Antipas 
conceived the idea of procuring from Tiberius the cession 
of the castle of Machaerus, the key of Herod's kingdom, 
on the side of Petra, but which at that time was tributary 
to Aretas d . Antipas sailed to Rome in a.d. 29, and was 
probably detained there till after the winter, during 
which navigation ceased, and did not start for Judaea 
until the spring of the following year a.d. 30. It was 
during this sojourn at Rome that Antipas was on such a 
footing of intimacy with Sejanus, whose power, by the 
death of Livia, the only check to it, had become un- 
bounded, that Agrippa, who apparently was himself also 
at Rome at this time, and privy to all Antipas's proceed- 
ings, afterwards accused him of having actually entered 
into a conspiracy with Sejanus against the emperor 6 . 
Antipas no doubt, from his general character, was very 
assiduous in his attentions to Sejanus as the court fa- 
vourite, and perhaps through his means obtained, not 
indeed all he had come for, but one important point, 
viz., the cession of the castle of Machaerus. At least, 
we find this fortress shortly afterwards in the possession 
of Antipas, and cannot account for the transfer of it to 
him from Aretas in any more plausible way f . Antipas 

d Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 1. e Jos. Ant. xviii. 7, 2. 

1 Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 2. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 47 

then would return to Judaea about the Midsummer of 
a.d. 30, and would immediately proceed to carry out his 
compact with Herodias. The wounded feelings of his 
brother Philip were of course utterly disregarded by the 
heartless tetrarch, and Antipas's own wife had saved him 
the trouble of a divorce, as during his absence she had 
discovered the plot against her, and had taken refuge 
with her father at Petra. Antipas then would consum- 
mate his marriage with Herodias shortly after the Mid- 
summer of a.d. 30 ; and as soon as publicity was given to 
the fact, John would openly rebuke him for this gross 
breach of morality and open violation of the Jewish law. 
Antipas himself had a respect for the Baptist, and might 
have overlooked the affront, but the malice of Herodias, 
coupled with the influence of the Pharisees on religious 
grounds, at length prevailed, and an order was issued 
for John's apprehension. John, like our Saviour, was 
hetrayed. Perhaps his virtuous conduct and character 
as a prophet had so established him in the favour of the 
people, that Antipas did not dare to arrest him publicly, 
but waited for some opportunity of laying hold of him 
by stealth. John, who may have escaped his pursuers 
for some time, was at length delivered by treachery into 
their hands, and was conveyed to the castle of Machse- 
rus g . The historical facts, therefore, attending the im- 
prisonment of John, warrant us in placing it as we have 
done, about the time of our Saviour's departure from 
Judaea into Galilee, viz., on November the 9th, a.d. 30. 

We shall here notice an objection that has been, and 
may again be urged, against this date of John's impri- 

g Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 2. 



48 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

sonment. It is said that Drusus, the son of Tiberius, 
died in a.d. 23 \ and that Agrippa was obliged shortly 
afterwards to leave Rome, as Tiberius, from grief at his 
son's loss, could not endure the sight of Agrippa, the 
friend of Drusus 1 ; and that Agrippa, therefore, in a.d. 
23, or a.d. 24 at the latest, sailed to Judaea, and resided 
at Malatha, and that his sister Herodias, as expressly- 
mentioned by Josephus, was then living with Herod the 
tetrarch, and exerted her influence with him to procure 
some relief for Agrippa k . If so, it is argued, the impri- 
sonment of John, which arose from his rebuke of Herod's 
marriage with Herodias, must have followed soon after, 
and cannot be placed so late as a.d. 30. Now this ob- 
jection (as the German critics have well pointed out, and 
in this have done great service) is founded upon a mis- 
take of the historical facts. True, Drusus died in a.d. 23, 
but so far was Tiberius from being overcome with sorrow 
upon the occasion, that he affected the utmost indiffer- 
ence at it, and even made a jest of it. When the Ilians or 
Trojans, for instance, offered their condolence for the loss 
of Drusus, the emperor begged to condole with them in 
return for the death of Hector 1 . Agrippa then could not 



h Tac. Ann. iv. 7—12. Dion, lvii. 22. « Jos. Ant. xviii. 6, 1. 

k 'Hpadrj t<5 Terpdpxr] avvoiKovaav. Ant. xviii. 6, 2. 

i Filiorum neque naturalem Drusum, neque adoptivum Germanicum 
patria caritate amavit, alterius vitiis offensus. Itaque ne mortuo quidem 
perinde affectus est, sed tantum non statim a funere ad negotiorum consue- 
tudineni rediit, justitio longiore inhibito. Quin et Iliensium legatis paullo 
serius consolantibus " Se quoque respondit vicem eorum dolere quod egre- 
gium civem Hectorem aniisissent." Suet. Tib. 52. Tiberius per omnes vali- 
tudinis ejus dies, nullo metu, an ut firmitudinem animi ostentaret, etiam 
defuncto, necdum sepulto, curiam ingressus est. Tac. Ann. iv. 8 ; see iv. 
13 : and Senec. consol. ad Marciam 15. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 49 

have been obliged to quit Rome at this time, as it would 
have been a direct contradiction to the emperor's other 
demeanour. Indeed, we have reason to believe that 
Agrippa was still sojourning at Rome in a.d. 29, when 
Antipas was there. But it was in a.d. 31, and not before, 
that the necessity for Agrippa's departure arose, under 
the following circumstances. Sejanus was put to death 
Oct. the 18th, a.d. 31 ; and a few days after, from an 
examination of his wife, Apicata, it came to light, for the 
first time, that Drusus in a.d. 23 had not died, as before 
supposed, from his own excesses, but that he had been 
poisoned by Sejanus, to make room for that courtier's 
own ambitious views m . Now it was that Tiberius, 
finding his son to have been the victim, not of de- 
bauchery, but of conspiracy, gave way to the deepest 
grief for his loss, and displayed a spirit of fretfulness 
and exasperation against all about him 11 . It was at 
this juncture that Agrippa, as reviving the memory of 
Drusus, was banished from the emperor's presence, and 
sailed to Judaea. He would on this supposition reach 
Malatha, in Idumsea, either at the close of a.d. 31, or 
the beginning of a.d. 32 ; and in either case he would 
find his sister Herodias living with Antipas, as the mar- 
riage between them had been consummated, as we have 
seen, about the Midsummer of a.d. 30. 

To proceed with our Saviour's ministry in chrono- 
logical order, we read that after two days' abode at 

m Dion, lviii. 11. 

n Auxit intenditque sajvitiam, exacerbatus indicio de morte filii sui 
Drusi, quern quum morbo et intemperantia periisse existimaret, ut tandem 
veneno interemptum fraude Livillse uxoris atque Sejani cognovit, neque 
tormentis neque supplicio cujusque pepercit. Suet. Tib. 62. 
E 



50 THE TIME OE COMMENCEMENT 

Sychar, He took His way towards Galilee, and passing 
by His own city, Nazareth, which lay on or near His 
road, (for a prophet is not without honour save in his 
own country,) He arrived at Cana . This closed His 
public ministry in Judsea, after He had preached there 
with little effect for about eight months. The Pharisees 
could not admit Him to be the Messiah, and their in- 
fluence in that province was so great, that Christ could 
no longer safely remain there, but was compelled to seek 
an asylum in the tetrarchy of Antipas. From this period 
Jesus visited Jerusalem only at the public festivals, and 
was often absent even from them. It is remarkable that 
Christ's ministry in Judsea is recorded by St. John only, 
while the other evangelists confine themselves to His 
ministry in Galilee. It would seem that John, though 
we know not under what circumstances, possessed some 
means of information as to the transactions in Judaea 
beyond the other evangelists. It corroborates this view, 
that at the last Passover, when Jesus was led into the 
house of Caiaphas, John, as personally known to the 
high-priest, was admitted also, and he afterwards exerted 
his interest with the domestics to bring in Peter, who 
had followed our Saviour to the door, but had been 
excluded p . 

We now enter upon our Lord's ministry in Galilee, 
the subject of the three first Gospels. It is not our 
intention to harmonize the several narratives by fol- 
lowing the occurrences in detail, but to notice only such 
striking features as may serve to illustrate the chronology, 
and in doing so we shall follow the arrangement of Mark 

John iv. 46. p John xviii. 15. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAYIOUR's MINISTRY. 51 

and Luke (who agree together), and consider the Gospel 
of St. Matthew as a collection of the memorable sayings 
and doings of our Lord, without reference (more parti- 
cularly in the earlier part of the history) to the regular 
sequence of events. Even the notices of time that do 
occasionally appear in St. Matthew, as "In those days," 
" In that day," " Then," &c. (eV rah rjnepous eKeivais, iv 
rfj rjfiepa €K€li>t), tot€, &c.) will be found upon examina- 
tion to be mere connectives. Thus the expression " In 
those days," (eV tolls rjfiepou? e/cetVai?,) Matt. iii. 1, is ap- 
plied to the preaching of John the Baptist, whereas the 
circumstance immediately preceding was the return of 
Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus from Egypt 32 
years before. 

Jesus then arrived at Cana in Galilee in Nov. a.d. 30, 
about eight months after His presence at Jerusalem, at 
the Passover, in the preceding March. That He reached 
Cana at least before the recurrence of the next Passover, 
is implied by the account of His reception at Cana, for 
" the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things 
that He did at Jerusalem at the feasts ;" that is, at the 
last Passover which had been attended by the Galileans. 

At Cana, Jesus healed the son of the nobleman of 
Capernaum, — His second miracle at Galilee r ; and then 
removed to Capernaum, where He both preached s and 
performed miracles*. Capernaum thenceforth was His 
ordinary abode, and this perhaps out of regard to His 
safety. The Pharisees had driven Him from Jerusalem, 

1 'Ede£wro avrbv ol raXiXaioi •navra icopaKores a inolrjanv iv 'lepoao\v~ 
fxois iv rfj eoprrj, John iv. 45. 

r The miracle at Cana at the maniage feast stood by itself, and was 
irapepyov ti, His hour for ministering in Galilee not being yet fully come. 

• Matt. iv. 17 ; Mark i. 14. *■ Luke iv. 23. 

E 2 



52 . THE TIME OP COMMENCEMENT 

and again from Judaea, and if Herod Antipas should be 
induced by them to persecute Jesus, as might be ex- 
pected from his arrest of John the Baptist, Capernaum 
lay on the lake of Galilee, and Jesus (more particularly as 
many of His disciples were fishermen) could easily take 
ship and cross over to the dominions of Herod Philip. 

From Capernaum Jesus made His first circuit in 
Galilee, Luke iv. 15, Mark i. 14, and in the course of it 
Peter and Andrew were called, Mark i. 16, Matt. iv. 18, 
and Jesus visited His own city of Nazareth, Luke iv. 16. 
He completed this His first circuit either at the close of 
the year a.d. 30, or early in the following year, a.d. 31, 
Mark i. 21, Luke iv. 31. On His return to Capernaum, 
He cured a demoniac on the Sabbath day, but which 
at the time elicited only astonishment, without any 
observation as to the breach of the Sabbath, Mark i. 23, 
Luke iv. 33. 

In a.d. 31 Jesus made a second circuit through the 
whole of Galilee, els oXrju ttji> TaXiXcuav, Mark i. 39, 
Luke iv. 4-1, in the course of which occurred the miracle 
of the draught of fishes, Luke v. 1, and the sermon on the 
mount, Matt. v. 1, and the cure of the leper " in one of 
the cities," (eV /iia t£>v iroXecov,) Luke v. 12, Matt. viii. 1, 
which last miracle, from the noise it made, obliged Him 
to withdraw from places teeming with population. " He 
was without in desert places," (eljco ev eprjjioLs tottols 
rjv,) Mark i. 45, Luke v. 16. After an absence of some 
time He returned to Capernaum, (/cat iraXiv elarjXOev 
eh 7&.anvepvaov\x Sl -qpepwv,) Mark ii. 1. 

Shortly after, Jesus commenced His third circuit in 
Galilee, in the course of which Matthew was called, Mark 
j. 14, Matt. ix. 9, and Jesus and His disciples passed 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 53 

through the corn-fields " on the second-first Sabbath," 
(eV <rafifidT(£> SevrepoTrpcorcp,) Luke vi. Here we have 
intimation of another Passover, both distinct from that 
in which Jesus had visited Jerusalem when He dis- 
coursed with Nicodemus, (for John Baptist was then at 
liberty, whereas he was now in prison,) and also distinct 
from the two other Passovers which will be mentioned 
hereafter, so that altogether we have clearly and indis- 
putably four successive Passovers in the course of our 
Saviour's ministry. 

The exact meaning of the word SevrepoTrpcoTcp has 
been much disputed 11 . But, whatever may be the real 

u Some of the best interpretations are the following: — 1. The Jewish 
civil year commencing in autumn, and the ecclesiastical year in the spring, 
the first Sabbath of the civil year was called the irpS>Tov a-dfifiaTov, and the 
first Sabbath of the ecclesiastical year, which commenced a fortnight be- 
fore the Passover, was called the devrepcmpaTov o-afifSarov, or second-first 
Sabbath. 2. The Jews measured their time by weeks of years, and the 
first Sabbath of the first year of the seven might be called emphatically 
the 7rpa>Tov o-a,3/3aroi/, or first Sabbath, and the 1st Sabbath of the 2nd year 
might be known as the 8evrepo7rpa>Tov crd/3 fiarov, or second-first Sabbath ; 
but this interpretation, as the sabbatic year was A.D. 27, would place the 
SevTepc7rpG>Tov aa.$$aTov, or first Sabbath of the 2nd year, in a.d. 29, which 
could not be reconciled with the other dates of our Saviour's life. 3. The 
2nd day of the Passover was, as St. John calls it, a high clay, John xix. 31, 
being that from which the Jews reckoned the 50 days terminated by the 
Pentecost, and the Jirst Sabbath after this second day of the Passover might 
be called the hevTepoirpa>Tov ad^^arov, or second-first Sabbath, but this 
meaning also is from conjecture. 4. The Jews divided their priests into 24 
courses, and each course served for a week at a time, so that the ministra- 
tion in the temple passed through each of the courses twice a-year, with a 
six months' interval. (See Lightfoot.) The first course began on the 
first Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles, designated from this emphati- 
cally as the first Sabbath ; and again the first course assumed office when 
its turn came round at the expiration of six months, on the first Sabbath 
after the feast of the Passover, known in common parlance as the devrepo- 
TtpuTov, or second-first Sabbath. The last interpretation is new^ but perhaps 
as probable as any. 



54 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

meaning of the expression, all the interpretations neces- 
sarily concur in this, that the Sabbath intended was 
about the time of a Passover, for as the disciples rubbed 
the ears of corn in their hands, it was manifestly the 
season of harvest, which began at the Passover. We 
should even surmise, though it is not so stated by the 
three first evangelists, that Jesus had this year, before 
the incident of passing through the corn-fields, actually 
attended the Passover at Jerusalem, and that this Pass- 
over of a.d. 31, is the feast alluded to by St. John, 
when our Saviour wrought the cure of the cripple at 
the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath day x , at which 
the Jews were so offended, that they sought to take 
His life. This would explain a circumstance not other- 
wise very intelligible, viz., that when Jesus had, on return- 
ing from His first circuit, cured the demoniac at Caper- 
naum on the Sabbath, there were no murmurs at the 
breach of the law; but now that the disciples merely 
rubbed the ears of corn on the Sabbath, the Pharisees 
pretended to be horror-struck at the impiety. If during 
the interval our Lord had attended the Passover at Jeru- 
salem, and healed the cripple at the pool of Bethesda on 
a Sabbath day, which had so exasperated the Pharisees 
that they conspired against His life, we can readily 
understand how the Pharisees might have sent their 
emissaries into Galilee to watch the steps of our Lord 
as a Sabbath-breaker, for the purpose of bringing an 
accusation against Him before the Sanhedrim at Jeru- 
salem. 

To proceed, Jesus having put the Pharisees to silence 

1 Mera ravra tjv eopTrj tcov 'lov8alcov. John V. 1. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 55 

in the corn-fields, afterwards, on another Sabbath, again 
wrought a miracle in the cure of a man with a withered 
hand. The Pharisees upon this formed a cabal with 
the Herodians to take His life, Mark hi. 6, when Jesus, 
to escape from their plots, retired to the sea-side, (ode 
'Irjcrov? yvovs avtyuipr\(Tzv eKeWev,) Matt. xii. 15, Mark 
iii. 7. After this, Jesus having passed the previous night 
in prayer, Luke vi. 12, ordained the twelve apostles, Luke 
vi. 11, Mark iii. 13, and delivered to them a charge, Luke 
vi. 20, a discourse resembling, but not to be confounded 
with, the sermon on the mount, which had been in- 
tended for the multitude generally. At the conclusion 
Jesus entered Capernaum, and so closed His thud cir- 
cuit, Luke vii. 1. 

The following day, (rf) i^rjs,) Luke vii. 11, Jesus 
(attended with the twelve apostles, Luke viii. 2,) com- 
menced His fourth circuit and visited Nain ; and now 
John the Baptist, who was still living, sent two of His 
disciples to Jesus for information, Luke vii. 18. Jesus 
then made a progress through the cities and villages of 
Galilee in order, {Kade^rjg Kara iroXiv kol kco/jltju, Luke 
viii. 1,) and again returned to Capernaum, Mark iii. 20. 

Jesus at this time taught the people by the sea-side 
from a boat, Matt. xiii. 1, Mark iv. 1, Luke viii. 4 ; and 
the same evening, after dark, being oppressed by the 
crowd, iScov Se 6 'Irjaovs iroWovs oy(\ovs 7repl avrov, 
Matt. viii. 18, He entered on a fifth circuit, and crossed 
the sea to Gadara, Mark iv. 85 ; see Luke viii. 26. 
Shortly afterwards He returned to Capernaum, Matt. 
ix. 1 ; see Mark v. 21, Luke viii. 40 ; and here we may 
close the year a.d. 31, though the exact point where 



56 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

one year ends and the other begins is of course in part 
conjectural. 

In a.d. 3 2 Jesus made a sixth circuit, and in the 
course of it again visited Nazareth, Mark vi. 1, Matt. 
xiii. 54, and the neighbouring villages, Mark vi. 6, and 
traversed all Galilee, Matt. ix. 35. During His pro- 
gress He sent the twelve apostles, two and two, to 
preach in Galilee, Matt. x. 1, Mark vi. 7, Luke ix. 1, 
which they did accordingly, Luke ix. 6. John the 
Baptist, during this mission of the apostles, was put 
to death by Herod, after a year and a half's im- 
prisonment, Matt. xiv. 1, Mark vi. 14, Luke ix. 7. And 
now Herod, hearing the fame of Jesus, took Him for 
John risen from the dead, Matt. xiv. 1, Mark vi. 14, 
Luke ix. 8. And we may here remark, that from this 
time the attention of Herod was particularly directed 
to the proceedings of Jesus, so that our Lord could 
not exercise His ministry in Galilee as freely as be- 
fore, but was under the necessity of transferring His 
labours to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and to Cae- 
sarea Philippi and Decapolis, and even to Judaea, from 
which the persecution of the Pharisees had before driven 
Him. The twelve apostles returned to Jesus, and ren- 
dered an account of their mission, Luke ix. 10, Mark vi. 
30 ; and intelligence at the same time reaching Jesus of 
the death of John the Baptist, He withdrew from the 
dominions of Herod Antipas, and retired to a desert 
place near Bethsaida or Julias, a city in Philip's tetrar- 
chy, Luke ix. 10, Mark vi. 31, Matt. xiv. 12, where He 
wrought the miracle of feeding the 5,000 with five loaves 
and two fishes. This was shortly before the Passover, 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 57 

(March 25,) rjv Se iyyv? to irdaxa y ioprrj rcou 'Iou- 
Saicou, John vi. 4. Jesus after this returned to the land 
of Gennesaret, Matt. xiv. 34, Mark vi. 53, and to Caper- 
naum, John vi. 24. 

Jesus now made a seventh circuit, and passed through 
Galilee, John vii. 1, and visited the confines of Tyre and 
Sidon, Mark vii. 24, Matt. xv. 21, and returned to the 
sea of Galilee by way of Decapolis, Mark vii. 31, Matt. 
xv. 29, and thence passed to Dalmanutha, Mark viii. 10, 
and the borders of Magdala, Matt. xv. 39, and thence to 
Bethsaida, not the tt6\ls, or city, of Philip's tetrarchy, 
but the KCO/X7], or village, of Herod's tetrarchy, and near 
Capernaum, Mark viii. 22, 23. 

Jesus was this year at Jerusalem, at the feast of 
Tabernacles, (15 October,) i\v 8e iyyv? rj eoprr) ra>v lov~ 
daicov y] orKrjvoirrjyLa, John vii. 2, and apparently he had 
not been at Jerusalem since the miracle at the pool of 
Bethesda, in the preceding year, for He thus refers to 
it, " I have done one work, and ye all marvel," *Ez/ 
epyov e7rolr)aa, /cat wai/re? dav/id^ere, John vii. 21. 
The Pharisees now sought to arrest Jesus, but the officers 
were afraid to execute the warrant, John vii. 32, 45. 

Jesus was again at Jerusalem at the feast of Encaenia 
in the winter, 'Kyevero rd kyKaivia kv tols ^lepoao- 
Xvpiois /cat yzipntiv rjv, John x. 22 ; after which He re- 
tired to Bethabara beyond Jordan, and abode there 
some time, /cat epieivev e/ce?, John x. 40. He passed from 
thence to Bethany, where He raised Lazarus from the 
dead, John xi. 1. The chief priests and Pharisees seeing 
the success of Jesus from this miracle, called a Sanhe- 
drim, and a resolution was passed that Jesus should be 



58 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

put to death, and He was proclaimed an outlaw, John 
xi. 47, 53, 57. Jesus, to escape His enemies, retired to 
Ephraim, near the desert, and remained there, kolk€l 
Sierpifiev, John xi. 54. 

Early in a.d. 33 Jesus quitted Ephraim, and visited 
Csesarea Philippi, the capital of Herod Philip's tetrarchy, 
Matt. xvi. 13, Mark viii. 27. He then returned to Gali- 
lee, but kept His journey secret, commanding the dis- 
ciples not to publish His name, Mark viii. 30. From 
this time Jesus began to foreshew to His followers that 
He must suffer at Jerusalem, Matt. xvi. 21, Mark viii. 
31. He returned to Capernaum, kou r)X6ev els Ka7rep- 
vaovfA, Mark ix. 33, Matt. xvii. 24, where, as an inha- 
bitant, he paid the poll-tax to the temple, Matt. 
xvii. 24. 

Jesus now announced His. intention of proceeding 
through Samaria to Jerusalem, and sent messengers be- 
fore Him to prepare the way, Luke ix. 51. The Sama- 
ritans opposed his passage through Samaria, Luke ix. 53, 
when He changed His route, and prepared to cross the 
Jordan, with a view of descending down the left bank of 
the river, and then pursuing the road through Jericho to 
Jerusalem. Jesus sent the seventy disciples, two and 
two, to the cities and villages through which He was 
to pass, Luke x. 1, and visited various cities and villages 
on his way to Jerusalem, Luke xiii. 22, travelling along 
the border-country of Samaria and Galilee towards the 
Jordan, 8ia fxeaov Xa/jLapela? kou TaXiXalas, Luke xvii. 
11. Jesus crossed the Jordan, and journeyed through 
Persea along the left bank till He reached Judaea, fxerrj- 
pev airo rfjs TaXiXaloi? kou rjXdev eh ra opta rrj? 'lov- 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 59 

Saia? iripav rod 'lopbdvov, Matt. xix. 1, Mark x. 1. 
lie then crossed the Jordan, and passed through Jericho 
on His way to Jerusalem, Matt. xx. 17, 29, Mark x. 32, 
46, Luke xviii. 35. 

The Passover was this year on Thursday, the 2nd of 
April, and Jesus arrived at Bethany the sixth day be- 
fore the Passover, and therefore on Saturday, the 2Sth 
of March, either after 6 p.m., that He might not travel 
on the Sabbath, or perhaps He came from the neigh- 
bourhood, so that the distance did not exceed a Sab- 
bath day's journey ; or possibly our Saviour might not 
regard a journey on the Sabbath under the circumstances 
as a breach of the law, as we find Him on another occasion 
walking with His disciples through the corn-fields on a 
Sabbath day. 6 ovv *\r\crovs trpo e£ rj/iepcov rod ircurya 
rjXOev ely BrjOaplav, John xii. 1. The sixth day in this 
passage must be reckoned both inclusive, as the sixth day 
before the calends of January (ante diem sextum kalend. 
Januar.) is the 27th December. 

The next day, rfj kiravpiov, John xii. 12, (Sunday, the 
29th March, and since called Palm-Sunday,) Jesus rode 
triumphantly from Bethany or Bethphage (both lying to- 
gether) into Jerusalem, the multitudes strewing branches 
of palm by the way, Matt. xxi. 1, Mark xi. 1, Luke 
xix. 29, and surveyed the temple, and in the evening 
returned to Bethany, Mark xi. 11, Matt. xxi. 17. 

The next day, rfj lirdvpiov, (Monday, the 30th March,) 
Jesus blighted the fig-tree, Matt. xxi. 18, and expelled 
the money-changers, &c. from the temple, Mark xi. 15, 
Matt. xxi. 12, Luke xix. 45 ; and in the evening, 6\j/e, 
returned to Bethany, Mark xi. 19, Matt. xxi. 17. 



60 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

The next day, irpcoi, (Tuesday, the 31st March,) Jesus 
returned to Jerusalem, and taught in the temple, Luke 
xix. 47 ; and the Sanhedrim (it being two days before 
the Passover) concerted His death, Matt. xxvi. 2, Mark 
xiv. 1, Luke xxii. 1, 2. 

The next day (Wednesday, the 1st April) Jesns re- 
mained in privacy, to avoid the machinations of the Jews, 
but the Hellenists ("EAA^esO sought an interview with 
Him through the intervention of Philip and Andrew, 
and Jesus held a discourse with them, John xii. 20. 

The next day, Thursday, the 2nd April, being the first 
of the eight days of the Passover, and on which, between 
noon and sunset, the paschal sacrifices were to be killed, 
and the paschal supper was to be eaten in the evening, 
Jesus sent Peter and John to Jerusalem, to prepare the 
Passover, Matt. xxvi. 17, Luke xxii. 7, Mark xiv. 12. 
And at the usual hour in the evening (ore lyivero rj copa) 
Jesus ate the Passover with His disciples, and instituted 
the Eucharist, Luke xxii. 14, Matt. xxvi. 20, Mark xiv. 17. 
At night, r]v hi vv^, John xiii. 30, Jesus retired to the 
garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of 
Olives, and was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, John xviii. 1, 
Luke xxii. 39, Mark xiv. 32, Matt. xxvi. 30, and led to 
the house of Annas, John xviii. 13, and then of Caiaphas, 
Matt. xxvi. 57, Mark xiv. 53, Luke xxii. 54, John xviii. 24. 

At break of day, on Friday, the 3rd April, m lyiv- 
ero rjixepa, Jesus was tried before the Sanhedrim for 
blasphemy, Luke xxii. 66, Matt, xxvii. 1, Mark xv. 1, 
and was conducted to Pilate, who came out of the 
Prsetorium to hear the Jews, who during the eight 
days of the Passover could not enter the house of 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. Gl 

a heathen, lest they should be defiled, John xviii. 2S, 
Matt, xxvii. 2, Luke xxiii. 1, Mark xv. 1. Pilate 
returned into the Prsetorium and examined Jesus, 
John xviii. 33 ; and as the charge hitherto had been 
that of blasphemy, Pilate came forth declaring that he 
could find no fault in him, and offered to release him, 
John xviii. 39. On the Jews raising a clamour against 
this, Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, when Jesus 
was scourged and mocked by the soldiers, John xix. 1. 
Pilate now appeared again with Jesus wearing a crown 
of thorns, John xix. 4, when, hearing that Jesus assumed 
to be the Son of God, he became alarmed, and returned 
into the Praetorium, and interrogated Jesus, John xix. 8. 
Pilate again came forth, when the Jews shifted their 
ground and charged Jesus with high treason, as claiming 
to be a king, John xix. 12. Pilate then sat on the judg- 
ment-seat or Gabbatha, a platform of tessellated pave- 
ment, and heard the charge. It was now 6 a.m. copa Se 
coo-el eKT-q, John xix. 13. Pilate, after this, finding that 
Jesus was a Galilean, sent Him to Herod Antipas, as 
within the tetrarch's jurisdiction, when Herod also ex- 
amined Jesus and mocked him, and then sent Him 
back to Pilate, Luke xxiii. 7. Pilate, being unable to 
induce the Jews to spare Jesus, and afraid of being 
accused himself for releasing one charged with treason, 
at length condemned Jesus to death, Luke xxiii. 24, 
Mark xv. 15, Matt, xxvii. 26, John xix. 16, when Jesus 
was led into the Praetorium and made sport of by the 
soldiers, Matt. xxvi. 27, Mark xv. 16, and was then 
crucified at Golgotha, at 9 o'clock, copa rplrr] (Jewish 
reckoning), Mark xv. 25, Matt, xxvii. 33, John xix. 17, 



62 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

Luke xxiii. 33. Prom 12 o'clock at noon to 3 p.m., 
occurred a supernatural darkness, Matt, xxvii. 45, Mark 
xv. 33, Luke xxiii. 44. At 3 p.m., rfj u>pa rfj evvarrj, 
Jesus expired, Mark xv. 34. 

One thing to the author's mind is perfectly clear from 
the foregoing statement, viz., that during our Lord's 
ministry there occurred four distinct consecutive Pass- 
overs, and assuming as a basis that, as Luke tells us, 
John the Baptist began in the 15th year of Tiberius, i. e. 
some time between 19 Aug. a.d. 28, and 19 Aug. a.d. 
29, the only question is whether the first of the four 
Passovers of our Saviour's ministry was that of a.d. 29, 
or that of a.d. 30. Now the former supposition would 
crowd into the short period of eight months, viz., from 
19 Aug. a.d. 28, to 16 April (the day of the Passover) 
a.d. 29, events that seem to require a much larger space ; 
for during this interval John commenced his ministry, 
(certainly not before, but possibly some months after, the 
19 Aug. a.d. 28,) Jesus was baptized, was tempted forty 
days in the wilderness, the preaching of John continued 
long enough to attract the notice of the Sanhedrim, some 
Pharisees were sent on a mission to inquire into his 
pretensions, Jesus returned to John, and was pointed 
out by him as the Messiah, Jesus passed into Galilee 
and resided at Cana, lie then went down to' Capernaum 
and remained there some days, and finally opened His 
ministry at Jerusalem at the first of the four Passovers. 
We have therefore (for this amongst other reasons) fixed 
the first of the four Passovers not in a.d. 29, but in 
a.d. 30, and if so, it follows of course that the last of 
the four was in a.d. 33. Thus the Gospel dispensation 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 63 

beginning, as we have supposed, with the preaching 
of John at the Passover a.d. 29, and ending at the 
Passover a.d. 33, would be just four years, the duration 
implied in the parable of the fig-tree y ; and the ministry 
of our Saviour from October a.d. 29, to the Passover 
a.d. 33, would be three years and six months, the 
period of the mission of Elias during the famine, and 
apparently referred to by our Saviour Himself as ana- 
logous to the length of His own ministry". 

That the last of the four Passovers, when our Saviour 
was crucified, was in the year a.d. 33, not only results 
from the harmony of the foregoing narrative, but is also 
evidenced, by other and wholly independent arguments, 
which we now proceed to consider. 

That our Saviour was crucified on a Friday is a fact 
familiar to all. Now if we can shew from the Gospels 
that the Jews did actually celebrate their Passover on 
the evening that preceded the Crucifixion, that is, on the 
Thursday, and that the Passover, by the rules which re- 
gulated it, would fall on a Thursday in the year a.d. 33, 
but would not so fall in any year either before or after 
a.d. 33, for a considerable period, it will necessarily follow 
that the crucifixion of our Lord must be assigned to the 
year a.d. 33, and cannot be referred to any earlier or 
later year. We have therefore to establish these two 
propositions : 1. That the Jewish Passover was eaten by 
the Jews on the evening next before our Lord's cruci- 
fixion ; and 2. That in the year a.d. 33, the paschal 
feast fell on a Thursday. 

1. That the Passover was eaten by the Jews on the 

y Luke xiii. 6. l Luke iv. 24. 



64 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

evening which preceded the Crucifixion, is a point upon 
which there is the most perfect harmony amongst the 
three first evangelists. It is indeed so clearly stated by 
them, that one would think not a 'doubt could be raised 
about it. 

The reader will bear in mind that the only question 
in dispute amongst the learned, is whether the paschal 
feast of the Jews was eaten by them on the evening 
before, or on the evening after, the Crucifixion. What 
does our Saviour Himself foretell as to this ? We find 
the following passage in Matthew ; " Ye know that after 
two days is the feast of the Passover, and the Son of 
Man is betrayed to be crucified 3 ." Is it not to be 
plainly understood from these words, that the Passover 
was to begin before the Son of Man should be betrayed ? 
If so, as Christ was betrayed on the Thursday night, and 
was crucified on Friday morning, the Passover could not 
commence on the Friday evening, but must have begun 
the day before. 

Again, what account do the three first evangelists 
give of the Last Supper ? do they call it the Passover ? 
and if so, do they imply that our Saviour ate the Pass- 
over with His disciples at the usual time, or proleptically, 
as it is called, i. e. by anticipation, and that while He ate 
the Passover on the Thursday, the Jews generally ate the 
Passover on the Friday. 

- What says St. Matthew? " Now ike first day of the 
feast of unleavened bread (rfj Se 7rpcorr) rcou 'A$j/jlcov), 
the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto Him, Where 
wilt Thou that we prepare for Thee to eat the Passover ? 

• Matt. xxvi. 2. 



AND DURATION OF OTJR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. G5 

And He said, Go into the city to such a man, and say 
unto him, The Master saith, My time is at hand ; I will 
keep the Passover at thy house, with My disciples. And 
the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them ; and they 
made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, 
He sat down with the twelveV Here we have not the 
most distant hint that our Saviour ate the Passover a 
day before the usual time. On the contrary, it was 
manifestly at the ordinary season, for the question where 
He was to eat it was put to Jesus by the disciples them- 
selves, who, of course, would reckon the Passover as 
their countrymen did. The very day too in which the 
inquiry is made is called the first day of unleavened 
bread, i. e. the day of the paschal sacrifices, in the 
evening of which the paschal supper was eaten. An 
attempt indeed is made to explain this away by the sug- 
gestion that rrj Se irpcorrj twv 'Aty/ioov means the day 
before the feast ; but this cannot be, for both Mark and 
Luke, as we shall see, call it the day of the paschal 
sacrifices. The supper, too, is repeatedly designated by 
Matthew as the Passbver, without anything in the con- 
text to indicate that it was not the ordinary feast, eaten 
at the accustomed time. "Where wilt Thou that we 
prepare the Passover?" "I will keep the Passover." 
" They made ready the Passover." 

Mark gives the same relation, and in very similar 
terms, as Matthew , but to the words rrj irpcorri rj^pa 
t£>v *A£v/jlg)v, " on the first day of unleavened bread," he 
adds, "when they killed the Passover," which is very 
observable, as denoting the same day on which the 

b Matt. xxvi. 17—20. c Mark xiv. 12. 

F 



66 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

supper was eaten, for the paschal lamb was killed be- 
tween noon and eventide, (and generally between 3 and 
5 o'clock,) on the day in the evening of which the paschal 
feast was celebrated. 

If any doubt could remain as to the meaning of the 
expression rfj Se irpmrrj rcou ' A^v/jlcou, it is removed by 
the narrative of St. Luke, for he tells us in the correspond- 
ing passage d , " Then came the day of unleavened bread, 
when the Passover must be hilled" (y\de 8e rj rjfiepa tcov 
'Aty/jLCDi' kv fj edei OveaOat to 7racr\a). Here we are 
told expressly that the day (that is, the first day) of 
unleavened bread was come. It was not the clay before, 
but the very day on which the Passover was slain in the 
afternoon and was eaten in the evening. And Luke 
implies also, that our Saviour ate the Passover at the 
usual hour, for he adds, when " the hour," i. e. the cus- 
tomary hour, " was come, (pre eyivero rj Spa,) He sat 
down 6 ." 

We shall now advert to the objections that have been 
urged against the hypothesis, that the Passover of the Jews 
preceded the Crucifixion. It is said, that if the Passover 
began on the Thursday, Christ was arrested by the rulers 
of the Jews during the feast ; whereas, at the Sanhedrim 
previously held by them, they had come to the reso- 
lution of not apprehending Him " on the feast day, (eV rfj 
ioprfj,) lest there should be an uproar among the peo- 
ple 1 ." And not only so, but the Crucifixion, it is said, 
would then be during a feast, and it was not lawful 
amongst the Jews to put any man to death during a 

d Luke xxii. 7. e Luke xxii. 14. 

1 Matt. xxvi. 5 ; Mark xiv. 1. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. G7 

festival. To the first of these objections we answer, that 
the rulers of the Jews had come to the resolution re- 
ferred to, when they supposed that the apprehension of 
Jesus would be conducted openly and by force. But 
very unexpectedly Judas Iscariot presented himself 
to the rulers, and offered to betray Jesus, when their 
counsels were at once altered, for by means of the 
proffered treachery, which they accepted with eagerness, 
they were enabled, as they did, to arrest Jesus without 
the least public disturbance. As to the objection, that 
the Jews would not have put our Lord to death during 
a festival, the answer is, that the Jews did not put Him 
to death. If they had done so for blasphemy, the first 
accusation, our Lord would have been stoned, and then 
His prediction would not have been verified, that He 
should be " lifted up " but the rulers of the Jews ad- 
mitted themselves before Pilate, "It is not lawful for 
us to put any man to death g ," viz. during the feast ; but 
by accusing Jesus of setting Himself up as king, they 
made it a Roman offence, — no less a charge than a vio- 
lation of the Julian laws, or high treason ; and it was 
upon this count that Jesus was eventually tried before 
Pilate, and condemned, and then crucified, — the Roman 
mode of execution. Now whatever scruples the Jews 
might have of profaning the festival by capital punish- 
ment, the Romans had none, but, on the contrary, 
considered the feasts, when such multitudes were con- 
gregated together, as the fittest occasion for making a 
public example. Accordingly we find, that at the same 
time with our Saviour there were also crucified two 

t John xyiii. 31. 
F 2 



68 THE TIME OE COMMENCEMENT 

notable bandits. Even the Jews, however, occasionally, 
and under special circumstances, appear to have had re- 
course to capital punishment during their feasts, otherwise 
Hegesippus, in his account of the martyrdom of James 
the Just, would not have stated it to have occurred at 
the time of a Passover \ The fact may or not have 
been as related, but at all events it is evident, that in 
the writer's opinion, there was no absurdity in the 
supposition. 

But in support of the hypothesis that the Passover 
was eaten, not before, as we have assumed, but after, the 
Crucifixion, reliance is principally placed upon certain 
ambiguous expressions used in the Gospel of St. John, 
and which we shall now examine. 

The first passage is the following : " Now before the 
feast of the Passover, {irpo 8e rrj? eoprrj? rov irao-ya^) 
Jesus, knowing that His hour was come that He should 
depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved 
His own which were in the world, He loved them unto 
the end 1 ; " and the evangelist then recounts the in- 
stance of love to which he alluded, viz., the washing of 
the disciples' feet, and begins his narrative with the 
words, " And supper being ended," &c, " He riseth from 
supper," &c. Here it is said the washing of the disciples' 
feet is expressly stated to be after the supper, and yet 
before the Passover, so that the supper of our Lord on 
the Thursday could not have been the celebration of the 
Passover itself. "What are the facts ? John had stated 
in the previous chapter, that Jesus came to Bethany, in 
the suburbs of Jerusalem, "sice days before the Passover k ." 

h Euseb., 1. ii. c 23. ' John xiii. 1. k John xii. 1. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 69 

By the expression irpo eoprrjs rod iraaya, lie does not 
mean the day before the arrival of the Passover, or he 
would have used words to that effect, this evangelist 
being remarkably particular in the sequence of the days, 
as any one must observe on a perusal of the first chapter 
of his Gospel; but the import of the phrase is, "now 
immediately before the feast of the Passover, or paschal 
supper" Jesus testified His love by washing the disciples' 
feet, which was a preliminary ceremony before eating the 
lamb. Philo tells us, that before the guests presumed to 
eat the Passover they purified themselves by ablution, 
that is, by washing the head, and hands, and feet 1 . Jesus 
discharged the most menial of these offices by washing, 
not the hands or head, but the feet of the disciples. 
Peter asked that his hands and his head also might be 
washed, but Jesus rebuked him, as He had intended 
only to give a lesson of humility. The paschal supper 
then had not yet begun, and if we follow the narrative 
we shall find this to be the case. The words translated 
" and supper being ended," " He riseth from supper," 
are koll denrpov yevofxevov . . iyeipercu ek tov be'nrvov, 
and should be rendered, " and when it was supper m ," &c, 
" He riseth from table," &c. For that the supper 

1 'EKaa-rr) Se olnia Kar eKelvov tov \povov o-yr]\x,a lepov kcu o-efivoTrjTa 
7repi^el3Xt]rai, tov afpayiaadevTos lepelov irpbs Tr\v appLOTrovaav evw^iav 
evTp€TiL^op.ivov, Ka\ tuiv stti to. crucrcrtrto avvei\eyp.eva>v ayvevriKo'is Tvepip- 
pavrrjpLois neKadappevoov. Philo de Septenario, s. IS. Indeed, generally, 
the Jews, before a banquet, were wont to wash their feet, as we may learn 
from the words of Christ when He supped with Simon the Pharisee, " I 
entered into thy house, thou gavest Me no water for My feet." — Luke 
vii. 44. 

m As Tevop.€vr]s Se eaTrepas, Philo in Flacc. s. 13, is " when evening was 
come," and not " when evening was passed." 



70 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

had not yet taken place is evident from the sequel. 
After Jesus had concluded the ceremony of washing the 
disciples' feet, He sat down again {avaireacov ttolXlv, 
John xiii. 12), and the supper commenced. This is 
shewn by the subsequent introduction of our Lord's 
declaration, " Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of 
you shall betray Me m ;" for both Matthew (xxvi. 21), and 
Mark (xiv. 18), who relate the same words, expressly say 
that they were uttered while Jesus and His disciples 
were eating the Passover, ecrOiovrcov avrcov. The same 
thing is also implied in the Gospel of John himself; for 
when John asked Jesus who it was who should betray 
Him, Jesus said, " He it is to whom I shall give a sop," 
for no doubt the sop was given so as not to excite ob- 
servation in the course of the supper. 

There are still three other passages of St. John which 
have been relied upon as proving that Christ was cruci- 
fied before the Passover ; one of them is connected with 
the subject just discussed. When Judas, after the sop, 
left the room and went out, with an intimation from 
Jesus not to tarry, " what thou doest do quickly," the 
disciples surmised either that he had been directed to 
" buy those things that they had need of against the feast," 
(a>v xpeiav expfiev eis* ttjv iopTrjp,) or to "give some- 
thing to the poor 11 ." The former supposition, it is said, 
assumes that the feast had not yet begun. However, 
though the paschal lamb had been eaten, yet some 
ceremonies might still remain, and it is much more 
likely that Judas, at that unseasonable hour, should have 
quitted the table abruptly to purchase something needed 

m John xiii. 21. u John xiii. 29. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 71 

immediately for the clue observance of the feast which 
they were then celebrating, than to procure provisions 
for a feast to beo-in the folio wins: afternoon. But 
even supposing that Judas's object was to buy pro- 
visions for a feast which was to be observed the next 
day, it by no means follows that such feast was the 
Passover. The feast of unleavened bread continued, 
after the day of the paschal sacrifice, an entire week, 
and during the whole of that time unleavened cakes 
were eaten and sacrifices made ; and not only so, but the 
feast of the Passover on the first day was followed by 
the feast of the sheaf-offering on the second day, so that 
Judas might very naturally be thought to be engaged in 
making purchases either against the remaining days of 
unleavened bread, or the feast of the sheaf-offering in 
particular. 

Another passage is, that when the Jews conducted 
Jesus to the Prsetorium they would not enter in, " lest 
they should be defiled, but that they might eat the 
Passover ;" and these words have been cited as a proof 
that the Passover had not then been celebrated. But 
how is this language at variance with the hypothesis 
that the paschal lamb had been eaten the evening before ? 
If, as is supposed on the other side, the Jews would not 
pollute themselves the morning before a feast, a fortiori 
they would not do so when the feast had actually begun, 
and was in the course of celebration. The words, " that 
they might eat the Passover," do not necessarily have 
any reference to the Passover, in the strict sense, for the 
whole seven days of unleavened bread were called the 

° John xviii. 28. 



72 THE TIME OE COMMENCEMENT 

Passover, and as they were distinguished by the eating 
of unleavened cakes, " to eat the Passover," was a synon- 
ymous expression with keeping the feast p . The Jews 
therefore would not enter into the Prsetorium, not that 
they might eat the paschal lamb in the evening (by which 
time possibly they might have purified themselves again q ), 
but that they might " eat the Passover," i. e. keep the 
remaining days of the feast without defilement. 

The only other objection drawn from St. John's Gospel 
is the passage, that when Pilate took his seat on the tri- 
bunal, upon the Gabbatha or tessellated pavement, John 
remarks that " It was the Preparation of the Passover 1 ;" 
words which have been accepted as equivalent to " the 
preparation for the Passover," and indicating that the 
Passover had not yet arrived. Now the expression Pre- 
paration (7rapao-K€vrj) had amongst the Jews a purely 
technical import, being used without either article or 
adjunct, and signifying the day before the Sabbath. Thus 
Mark writing for Roman converts, who might not be 
acquainted with the term, and speaking of the Friday 
after the Crucifixion, observes, " It was the Preparation, 
that is, the day before the Sabbath," {j]v TrapaaKevrj o lart 
Trpoo-dfifiarov,) Mark xvi. 42. Both Matthew and Luke, 
and even John himself, use it in the same sense s . The 
Passover (by which name the feast of unleavened bread 
was commonly known) lasted seven days, besides the day 
of the paschal sacrifices, and of course a Sabbath oc- 

p " They ate throughout the feast, seven days." 2 Chrou. xxx. 22. 

q In general, however, a purification required a whole day. 

r John xix. 14. 

s Matt, xxvii. 62 ; Luke xxiii. 54 ; John xix. 31. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 73 

curred during the week. This Sabbath was called the 
Sabbath of the Passover, and the preceding day, or Pre- 
paration, (7rapaorK€vr},) was known as the Preparation of 
the Passover. Thus the expression of John, instead of 
proving that the Passover was still future, indicates ex- 
actly the reverse, inasmuch as this Preparation is called 
the paschal Preparation, or that which occurred in the 
paschal week. 

Perhaps the ambiguous phrases found in the Gospel 
of St. John, and which we have just discussed, might 
at first sight, and taken by themselves, suggest the 
notion that the evangelist assumed the day of the Pass- 
over to be still future ; but even in John we meet with 
other expressions implying as clearly that the Passover 
had already commenced. The words, " The Preparation 
of (not for) the Passover," tend to this conclusion : and 
again we read, " The Jews therefore, because it was the 
Preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the 
cross on the Sabbath day, (which began at 6 p.m. on 
Friday,) for that day was a high day, besought Pilate," 
&C. 4 Here the evangelist speaks of the Sabbath com- 
mencing on Friday at 6 p.m. as a " high day;" but if, 
as supposed by those whose opinion we are impugning, 
the Passover itself was to take place on Friday, John 
would have called it the Passover, or the high day, and 
not merely a high day. But if, on the contrary, as we 
contend, the paschal supper had been eaten the previous 
evening (Thursday), the language is most appropriate, 
for the day after the Passover, or second day of the feast 
of unleavened bread, viz. from Friday at 6 p.m. to Satur- 

* John six. 31. 



74 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

day at 6 p.m., though not the high day, was a high day, 
being the feast of the sheaf-offering 11 . Again, Pilate is de- 
scribed in St. John as saying to the people on the Friday 
morning, " Ye have a custom, that I should release unto 
you one at the Passover," iv ra> irao-ycf, i. e. " during," 
or "in the course of," the Passover; does it not then 
follow that at the time when these words were uttered, 
the Passover had already commenced. 

The result of the whole argument is that Matthew, 
Mark, and Luke state most positively that the paschal 
supper was eaten the evening before the Crucifixion, while 
all the passages in St. John having a contrary tendency 
are capable of explanation. We must therefore conclude 
that the paschal supper was eaten by the Jews on the 
evening of the Thursday next preceding our Lord's 
crucifixion. 

2. We have now to establish that the Passover, or 
supper of the paschal lamb, in the year a.d. 33 fell on a 
Thursday, and did not fall on that day in any other year 
either before or after, for a period of many years. 

Before we enter upon a discussion of the authorities as 
to the rule by which the Passover was regulated, we must 
premise some general observations, without which the 
disjointed passages which will be cited can scarcely be 
understood. 

The Passover, (jraoya?) or feast of Unleavened bread, 
(agv/jia,) (for both terms were used,) in their ordinary 
and common acceptation comprised three distinct feasts 
that fell together at the same season of the year, viz. the 

n Philo de Septenario, sect. 20. * John xviii. 39. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 75 

Passover, properly so called, the feast of Unleavened 
bread, and the feast of the Sheaf-offering. The Passover 
was always on the 14th Nisan, reckoned from G p.m. to 
6 p.m., the paschal sacrifices being killed on the lith 
Nisan, between noon and eventide, and the paschal supper 
being eaten the same evening. The feast of unleavened 
bread began with the 15th Nisan, at 6 p.m., and ended 
at 6 p.m. on that day week, during all which time certain 
sacrifices were killed, and unleavened cakes were eaten. 
The feast of the sheaf-offering began with the second 
day of the feast of unleavened bread, and lasted one 
day, the sheaf being offered in the morning. Thus, 
supposing the feast of the Passover to begin on Wed- 
nesday, the 14th Nisan, at 6 p.m., the paschal sacrifices 
would be killed on Thursday in the afternoon, and 
the paschal supper would be eaten the same evening. 
The feast of unleavened bread would begin at 6 p.m. on 
the same Thursday, and expire at 6 p.m. on the Thurs- 
day following. The feast of the sheaf-offering would 
begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, and the sheaf would be 
offered on Saturday morning, and the feast would end at 
6 p.m. on Saturday. The Sabbath and the sheaf-offering 
in this case falling together, would more particularly make 
the day what St. John calls " a high day." We may 
further remark, that the sacrifices for the Passover were 
killed, according to Philo y , from 12 at noon till eventide, 
or, according to Josephus 2 , between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. 
on the 14th Nisan. But both agree that this 14th of 
Nisan was reckoned the first day of the feast, so that the 

1 'Ap£dpevoi Kara pear]p^piav ecos eanepas. Philo de Septen., sect. 18. 
Qvovai p.kv dno ei/vurtjs apas pexpi ivheKarrjs. Jos. Bell. vi. 9, 3. 



76 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

Passover, or feast of unleavened bread, (in the larger 
signification of those terms,) was said to last eight days, 
beginning on the 14th Nisan, and ending on the 21st 
Nisan. The writers of the New Testament speak of the 
feast in the same way. Thus Matthew writes, " On the 
first day of unleavened bread a ," (which evidently, from 
the context, was the day of the paschal sacrifices,) the 
disciples asked Jesus where He would eat the Pass- 
over, which was to be celebrated the same evening. 
So Mark in similar terms, " On the first day of un- 
leavened bread, ivlien they killed the Passover* f and 
Luke, " Then came the day of unleavened bread, when 
the Passover must be killed " 

What we have to ascertain in the first place is, by 
what ride from year to year the recurrence of the pas- 
chal festival was determined. The pivot of the whole 
year was the 15th Nisan, or the first day of unleavened 
bread. The 14th day (exclusive) before it was the 1st 
Nisan, or the commencement of the Jewish ecclesiastical 
year, and all the other feasts followed at certain regular 
intervals. 

The 15th Nisan then was that day {reckoned by the 
Jews from 6 p.m. to % p.m.) on which occurred the first 
full moon after the vernal equinox. The Passover was 
the day before, or the 14th Nisan, and therefore always 
preceded the full moon. In strictness, the paschal sacri- 
fices were to be both killed and eaten on the 14th Nisan, 
viz. before 6 p.m., but as the sacrifices were usually killed 
between the hours of 3 and 5, it is probable that the pas- 

a T77 Se TTptorr) rcbv 'Afw/iojy. Matt. xxvi. 17. 
b Mark xiv. 17. c Luke xxii. 7. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 77 

chal supper often extended itself into the 15th Nisan, i.e. 
was celebrated after 6 p.m. 

According to the law of Moses, the lamb was to be 
chosen on the 10th Nisan, and was to be killed on the 
11th Nisan, between the evenings, that is, in the after- 
noon, and was to be eaten the same evening d , with 
bitter herbs and unleavened bread e . 

We cannot have any higher authority, after holy Writ, 
than Philo, who was living at the time of our Saviour's 
crucifixion, and was the most learned Jew of the day, and 
composed a tract upon the nature of the Jewish feasts. 
Philo then tells us that the sacrifices for the Passover 
were killed from noon to eventide on the 11th Nisan f , 
and were eaten the same day with the saying of prayer 
and the singing of hymns. And he then informs us that 
the feast of unleavened bread, in its proper and confined 
sense, joined on to the feast of the Passover, and he pro- 
ceeds thus : " This feast (of unleavened bread) begins 
on the 15th Nisan, the day that divides the month, 
and on which the moon arrives at the full, in order that 
on that day there may be no darkness at all g ." The 
15th Nisan then, which began at 6 p.m. of the day on 
which the paschal sacrifices were killed, and in the even- 
ing of which the paschal supper was eaten, was that day 
reckoned from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. on which the moon 

d Levit. xxiii. 5. Numb. ix. 3 ; xxviii. 16. 

e Exodus xii. 6. 

f "Ayerai 8e 17 Trav8rjpos dvala (the Passover) reo-o-apecrKatSeKar^ rod 
fj.rjv6s (Nisan). Philo de Septen., s. 18, 19. 

e Ti)? 3e copras (^ A^vpav) bixopjjvos ap^L rj TvevreKaibeKarrj nad* r]V 
(reXrjvr) TrXrja-Kparjs yiverai, irpovola tov prjSev eivai ctkotos tear 
eK.eii>t)v T7)v fjpepav. Philo de Septen., s. 19. 



78 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

arrived at the full, and for the reason assigned by Philo, 
viz. that there might be no darkness. 

In a subsequent passage he is still more decided, for 
he explains the reason why the feast of unleavened 
bread was observed on the 15th Nisan, thus : " That not 
only by day, but by night also, the world may be full of 
the all -glorious light of the sun and moon, which on 
that day rise in exact opposition to each other with in- 
discriminate beams, so as to leave no interval of dark- 
ness 11 ." The 15th Nisan, therefore, was the day on 
which the sun and moon were in direct opposition, that 
is, when the moon was at the full. 

In another passage Philo observes : " Moses writes, 
that the first month should begin after the vernal 
equinox. And in that month, on the lUh day, when 
the moon's orb is just about to be full, the Passover, 
a notable festival, called in Chaldee Pascha, is cele- 
brated 1 ." This exactly accords with his previous state- 
ment, viz. that the paschal sacrifices were killed on the 
14th Nisan, and that on the 14th Nisan the moon was 
not full, but just about to be full, (jxeWovtos yiveadai 
irXecrtffyaovs,) i. e. it would be full a few hours after on 
the 15th Nisan. 

We cannot part from Philo without adverting to 

"iva fir] /ie0' rjiiepav fiovov dWa (cat viiKToop TrXrjprjs 6 nocr/MOS § tov 
nayKaXov (pcoTos, rj\lov Kal <re\r)Prjs kclt tKeiprjv ttjv r/fiipav dXAij- 
\ois eTravareWovTcov avyals dbiaariKTOts ais p.edopiov oi 
Siaicpivei (tkotos. Philo de Septen., s. 24. 

1 Tjji> dpxh v T V S ectpivrjs Icr^peplas ivprnrov dvaypdcpei p,r)va Mcovarjs. 
Tw 8e prjvl tovtco irepl TeacjapeaKaiheKdrrjv r\p.ipav fxeXXovros tov 
aeXrjviaKov kvkXov yeveadai nXrjaicpaovs ayerai to. dia^arrjpia 
b-qp,o<pavr]s ioprrj to XaASaiort Xeyopevov ndcrxa. Phil. Vit. Moys. iii. 68. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 79 

another remarkable passage, in which he states that the 
feast of the New moon was celebrated as being the first 
day of the month, apxv [Mjvos, and also as the day on 
which the new moon became visible to the eye ; in other 
words, that on the first day of the month occurred, not 
the actual new moon, or the change, but the phasis*. 
The explanation is as follows. The interval between the 
actual new moon, or change, and the full moon, being 
14 days and 18 hours, and the full moon always falling 
on the 15th Nisan, the change of the moon would not 
necessarily be on the 1st Nisan, but would sometimes 
take place as much as 18 hours before. Thus, if the full 
moon occurred at the first instant of the 15th Nisan, the 
new moon would at the beginnino; f the 1st Nisan be 18 
hours old ; while, as the opposite extreme, if the full moon 
occurred at the last instant of the 15th Nisan, the actual 
new moon would take place about six hours after the 
commencement of the 1st Nisan. On the other hand, 
the moon not being visible until 18 hours after the 
change, and again disappearing 18 hours before the next 
change, (making together 36 hours, or a day and a half,) 
the whole lunation of the visible moon was just 28 days, 
and the interval between the phasis or first appearance 
of the moon and the full was exactly 14 days, and thus 
if the full moon was always on the 15th Nisan, the phasis 
would be always on the 1st Nisan, and vice versa. The 

J Tpirrjv eoprrjv dvaypdcpopev ri]V Kara (TeXrjvrjs veoprjviav. Upcorov pev 
on ap%r] prjvbs, eireiTa de on Kar airr/v ovbeu dcpeoTicrTOV iv ovpava- rplrov 
he, on t<5 eXaTTovt <a\ do-devearepa kuk lueivov tov XP° V0V to Kpelrrov Kal 
8vvaro)Tepov ax/)eXet'aj dvayKaias /xeraSt'Scoort. Nov/xr/j/i'a yap apxfrai <pa>- 
rl^eiv aloSrjTa (fieyyet aeXrjvrjv ijXios, rj be to 'iBiop KaWos dvacpaivei rols 
opStcri. Philo de Septen.,-sect, 17. 



80 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

Jews, therefore, regulated their ecclesiastical year, not by 
the change, but by the phasis of the moon, and thus, as 
Philo remarks, the full moon was always on the 15th 
Nisan, and the new moon was always on the 1st Nisan. 

Turn we now to Josephus, who being himself a priest, 
and acquainted with Jewish ceremonies, and living at 
the same time with Philo, though somewhat junior to 
him, must rank next to him in authority. We read in 
the Antiquities, " But Moses made it a law, that in the 
month Xanthicus, called by us Nisan, and which is the 
beginning of the year, on the fourteenth day, according 
to the moon, (i. e. according to the moon's phasis \) we 
should every year kill the sacrifice called the Passover. 
But on the Ihth Nisan, the feast of unleavened bread, 
which lasts seven days, succeeds the Passover, and on 
the 2nd day of the feast of unleavened bread, being the 
16th Nisan, we offer the first-fruits of the barley, (i.e. 
the sheaf-offering k )." Here we have a statement that 
the Passover was on the 14th Nisan, and since the his- 
torian mentions in another place that the sacrifices were 
between 3 and 5 p.m., it follows that the paschal supper 
was eaten in the evening of the day on which began the 
15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 p.m. to 6 p.m. Again, he 
tells us, as Philo had done before, that the feast of un- 

3 It cannot be from the moon's change, for then the 15th Nisan would 
not always be the day of the full moon, which it invariably was. 

Tw he firjvl tco Sav9iica bs Ntcrai/ Tvap rj/uv KaXelrat, Kai rov erovs ecrriv 
apXV> Tea-a-apea-KaibeKaTT) Kara o~e\r]vr)v, . . . rr/v dvo-Lav Ilacr^a 
\eyofieurjv St erovs eKacrrov Bveiv evopurev. TLef&fTQ Be Kai heKarrj 8iahe)(eTai 
rfju rov Udcrx a V r <AV 'A&pcQV eoprfj kivra rjpepas ovaa. Tjj he hevrepa 
tcou ' k£vpu)v {fipepa eKrr\ §' iar\v Kai heKarrf) ras dirapxas avra> rrjs Kpi6r\s 
eTTKpepovo-i. Ant. iii. 10, 5. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 81 

leavened bread commenced with the 15th Nisan, and 
that the sheaf-offering was on the second day of that 
feast, viz. on the 16th Nisan. Thus the Passover was 
on the day before the full moon, the feast of unleavened 
bread began on the day of the full moon, and the feast of 
the sheaf-offering was on the day after the full moon. 

In another passage is this : " Having performed 
the sacrifice called the Passover on the 14?7i day of 
the same month, (Nisan,) they feasted seven days 1 ." 
Here again the paschal sacrifices are placed on the 
14th Nisan, i. e. in the afternoon of that day, (the pas- 
chal supper therefore being in the evening,) and after 
that, and exclusively, follow the seven days of unleavened 
bread, making together, for the whole festival, eight days, 
the duration reckoned by Josephus in an earlier page 
of the same work™. In the Wars we read, " The feast 
of unleavened bread ( A^vfia) being in the course of 
celebration on the 14th day of the month Xanthicus 11 ;" 
which is consistent with his former accounts, for the 
feast of unleavened bread ( K^vfia) here means the whole 
festival, called indifferently Tldcrya an ^ '^C v f JLa > com - 
mencing with the paschal sacrifices on the 14th Nisan, 
and making, with the seven days of unleavened bread, 
the eight days allowed by him for the entire festival. 

Eusebius furnishes us with the additional testimony 
of Agristobulus, who was an ancient master in Israel, 
and is said to have assisted in translating the Septua- 

• TrjV 7rao"^a Trpoirayopevopevrjv dvaiav rr) Teraprrj kol denary rov avroxi 
prjvbs (Nisan) eVtTeA ecrairer Ka.Tzva>xt)8w av ^X -qpipas enra. Ant. xi. 4, 8, 
m Ant. ii. 15, 1, 

Trjs tcov 'A£vp<j>v ii/aTaa-rjs r\pepas Tea-o-apecwaideWTr] SZavBiKov prjvQi 
(Nisan). Bell. v. 3, 1. 

G 



82 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

gint. It runs as follows : " The clay of the Passover 
being appointed for the 14th day of the month (Nisan), 
after eventide, the moon will be in diametrical opposition 
to the sun, &c. ;" from which we collect the same re- 
sults as before, viz. that the paschal sacrifices commenced 
on the 14th Nisan, and that the paschal supper was eaten 
the same evening ; and that just about that time, viz. 
between the sunset of that day and the sunset of the 
following, that is, on the 15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 
p.m. to 6 p.m., the sun and moon were in direct oppo- 
sition, and consequently the moon was at the full. 

The citations which have been adduced appear to 
justify the following conclusions, viz. — That the Pass- 
over, including the paschal sacrifices and the paschal 
supper, was observed on the 14th Nisan, the day next 
before the full of the moon ; that the feast of unleavened 
bread began on the 15th Nisan, reckoned from 6 p.m. to 
6 p.m., and was the very day of the first full moon after 
the vernal equinox; and that the feast of the sheaf- 
offering was on the second day of the feast of un- 
leavened bread, and therefore on the day after the full 
of the moon. 

Let us test the accuracy of these deductions by 
taking a particular instance. The Jewish historian will 
fortunately supply us with the materials. Josephus 
mentions, that when Antiochus Sidetes, toward the close 

Aodeiarjs ttjs tuv Aiaj3arrjpioov ijpepas rfj Teaarapeo-KaiSeKaTy tov 
prjvos pe6" ianepav, earrj^erai p,ev aekrjVT] ttjv evavridv kcu (lege Kara) 
Siaperpov tw 77A.ua aracriv' ao-rrep ovv e£e<TTiv ev rais navo-eXrjvois opav' 
eaovrat 8e 6 pep Kara to iapivov Icrrjpepivov 6 fjXios rprjpa, -q he e| dvdyKTjs 
Kara to (pdivonapivov larjpepivov fj aeXqurj. Eccles. Hist. vii. 32. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR^ MINISTRY. 83 

of his life, made a campaign against the Parthians, he 
was accompanied by Hyrcanus the high-priest; and 
Joseplms appeals, in confirmation of this statement, to 
Nicolaus of Damascus, who recorded the anecdote, that 
Antiochus, after a victory over Indates, the Parthian 
general, halted two days on the banks of the Lycus, in 
deference to Hyrcanus, as a Jewish festival then oc- 
curred, during which the Jews were prohibited by their 
law from marching; and Josephus adds, that Nicolaus 
was perfectly right, for that, as it happened, the feast of 
the Pentecost followed in that year next after a Jewish 
Sabbath, so that the Jews could not move from their 
quarters during those two days p . Of what year then 
is the historian speaking ? Livy tells us that the cam- 
paign against the Parthians was in the consulship of 
C. Claudius and M. Perperna q , i. e. in B.C. 130. There 
is some conflict of authority as to the details of the 
war, but the fullest account of it is to be found in Justin, 
viz. that Antiochus advanced boldly into the enemy's 
country, and fought three battles successfully, and then 
dispersed his troops into winter quarters in different 
parts of Babylonia. This division of his forces em- 
boldened the king of Parthia to resume the offensive, and 
Antiochus was slain, according to Justin, in the winter 1- , 

p Tpoiraiov (rrrja-as 6 'AvTioftos enl tm Avk(j> norapa, viKTjo-as'lv8a.Tr]v 
tov ILapduv crrpaTTjybv, avTodi epeivev rjpepas 8vo, SerjdevTOs 'YpKavov tov 
lovdaiov did Tiva eoprrjv irarpiov ev fj ovk rjv vop.ip.ov e£o8eveiv' Kai ravra 
fiev (Josephus adds) ov ^euSerai Xeycov, evecrTT) yap ij IlevTTjKocrTr] pera to 
cra/3/3aToj>, ova eari 8e rjplv ovTe ev toIs o-d(3(3a<nv, oyre ev rg eoprrj odeveiv. 
Jos, Ant. xiii. 3, 4. 

« Liv. Epit., lib. 59. 

x Auxilium proximis laturus cum ea manu quae secum hiemabat progre- 
ditur. In itinera . . metu suoruna desertus occiditur. Justin, xxxviii. 10. 

g2 



84 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

or, according to Diodorus, in the following spring 3 . The 
death of Antiochus was therefore in the winter of B.C. 
130, or the spring of B.C. 129. This agrees with the 
other dates in the life of Antiochus, for he came to the 
throne in the 174th year of the Selencian era*, i.e. some 
time between the autumn of b.c. 139 and the autumn of 
B.C. 138, (as is confirmed by the coins of this king, which 
begin with that Seleucian year 11 ,) and Eusebius, citing 
Porphyry, tells us that Antiochus reigned nine years x , 
which he would thus have done if he perished at the 
close of b.c. 130, or the beginning of b.c. 129. Again, 
Antiochus was succeeded by Demetrius, who died in the 
187th year of the Seleucian era, i.e. some time between 
the autumn of b.c. 126 and the autumn of b.c 125, (as 
appears from the fact that coins both of Demetrius and 
of Grypus, his successor, are found with the stamp of 
•that year?,) and Eusebius tells us that Demetrius reigned 
four years from the death of Antiochus 2 , which again 
answers to the hypothesis that Antiochus died at the 
close of b.c. 130, or in the spring of b.c. 129. We can- 
not doubt, therefore, that the victory over Indates, men- 
tioned by Josephus, was the first of the three battles 
fought in b.c. 130, and that the Pentecost alluded to 
was the feast of that year. 

On what day, then, did the feast of Pentecost fall in 
the year b.c 130 ? 

The hinge upon which the whole Jewish year turned 

' 'O (rTparrjybs 'Avtu>xov ' Adrjvaios 7rXei(rra ivrais eiricrTadpiats elpyaape- 
vos KaKa, rrjs (pvyijs narapgas nal tov 'Avtloxov iyKaTaknrwv rrjs 7rpoa-r]icov- 
(rrji KaracrTpo<prjs en^e. Diod. xxiv., and see further fragments in Clin- 
ton's P. H. '1 Maccab. xv. 10. u Eckhel on Coins. 

1 Euseb. Chronic. T Eckhel on Coins. z Euseb. Chronic. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOURS MINISTRY. 85 

was, as we have said, the 15th Nisan, which was always 
the day of the first full moon after the vernal equinox, 
i. e. when the sun entered into the first point of 
Aries a . In the time of Julius Csesar, the vernal equi- 
nox was computed (whether correctly or not) to fall 
upon the 25th of March b , and in the century before 
it was still later c . In b.c. 130, therefore, the first full 
moon after the vernal equinox would be that which 
occurred at Jerusalem on the 21th of April, about 10 
a.m. d The 15th Nisan, then, was from the 23rd of 
April, 6 p.m., to the 21th of April, 6 p.m., and the 16th 
Nisan, the sheaf-offering, was from the 21th of April, 
6 p.m., to the 25th of April, 6 p.m. From the 16th 
Nisan (exclusive) were reckoned 7 weeks, or 19 days, 
and the next day was the feast of weeks, or Pentecost, 
i. e. the 50th day from the 16th Nisan, exclusive. That 
the Pentecost was computed in this way is evident 
enough. In Leviticus xxiii. 15, we read, "And ye shall 
count unto you from the morrow after the Sabbath 
(meaning by the Sabbath the 15th Nisan). From the 
clay that ye brought the sheaf of the wave-offering, 
(the 16th Nisan,) seven Sabbaths (or weeks) shall be 
complete. Even unto the morrow after the seventh Sab- 
bath (or week) shall ye number fifty days, and ye shall 
offer a new meat-offering," &c. (viz. the Pentecost). So 
Philo tells us that the 16th Nisan, or second day of un- 
leavened bread, was called the sheaf, (dpdyfia,) and " from 
that clay forward is reckoned the Pentecost, or 50th day, 

* Jos. Ant. iii. 10, 5. b See Greswell's Proleg., p. 28. 

c The rate of the prece'ssion of the equinoxes is one day in 130 years. 
d See Anger, 36 ; and this is confirmed by the eclipses, as calculated by 
Pingre, for the year B.C. 130. 



bb THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

the odd day setting the seal to the sacred number of seven 
weeks 6 .'* And Josephus uses very similar terms'. Indeed, 
Maimonides expressly tells us that the Pentecost was the 
50th day from the 16th Nisan, exclusive*. Our Church, 
therefore, has from the earliest ages celebrated Whit- 
Sunday, which corresponds to the Jewish Pentecost, on 
the right day • for our Saviour was crucified, as we shall 
see, on Friday, the 15th Nisan, so that Saturday was 
the 16th Nisan ; and Whit-Sunday is always the 50th 
day from the Saturday next before Easter, exclusive. 

The 15th Nisan, then, was in the year B.C. 130, on the 
24th of April, reckoned from 6 p.m. of the preceding 
evening; and the 16th Nisan, or the sheaf-offering, was 
on the 25th of April, reckoned from 6 p.m. of the pre- 
ceding evening; and the 50th day from that, exclusive, or 
the 14th of June, was the Pentecost ; and according to 
Josephus, in explanation of Nicolaus of Damascus, this 
Pentecost followed next after a Jewish Sabbath, and 
therefore fell on a Sunday. We turn to De Morgan's 
Book of Almanacks, (which I assume to be accurate, not 
only from the established reputation of the writer, but 
also from its harmonizing with the German computations,) 
and we find that the 14th of June, B.C. 130, did actually 
fall on a Sunday, and that the day before, or the 13th of 
June, was a Saturday, i. e. the Jewish Sabbath. Thus 
two feasts fell together, as Josephus remarks, and the 



e 'A770 yap tclvtt]s rrjs fjpepas UevTrjuocrTT] dpidp-elrai, eVra ij: 
Uphv apidpov iTTi(T(ppayi^op,€vr]s p.ovd8os. Philo de Septen. sect. 21. 

'Ej3Soprjs 8' e^So^iaSos Siayeyevrjpevijs p.tTa ravrrjv rrju OvaLav (avrai $' 
elalv ai twv i(38opd8<ov rjpepcu TeaaapaKovra Ka\ ivvea), rjj lievrrjKouTfj, r\v 
'Eftpaioi 'Acrapda KakovaiP . . • npocrdyovai rw Qeco aprov. Ant. iii. 10. 

£ See Jennings' Jewish. Antiq. on the subject of the Pentecost. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 87 

two days for which Antiochus Sidetes halted, out of com- 
pliment to Hyrcanus, were the 13th and 14th of June, 
B.C. 130. 

We have now only to apply the same principles to 
a.d. 33, the year which we have assigned to the Cru- 
cifixion. 

In a.d. 33, the first full moon after the vernal equinox 
was on the 3rd of April, at Jerusalem, at 5.12 p.m. This. 
is the calculation adopted by Greswell h , and is no doubt 
correct. The 15th Nisan then was from 6 p.m. on the 
2nd of April to 6 p.m. on the 3rd of April. The paschal 
sacrifices were killed between noon and eventide on the 
2nd of April, and the paschal supper was eaten the same 
evening. On what day of the week, then, did the 2nd of 
April fall in a.d. 33 ? We turn to the Book of Alma- 
nacks, and we there learn that the 2nd of April was on 
a Thursday. This, then, agrees with the narratives of the 
New Testament, for the evangelists tell us that the Cru- 
cifixion occurred on a Friday, and that the paschal sup- 
per was eaten the evening before, that is, on a Thursday. 
According to the foregoing rules, the Passover did ac- 
tually fall in a.d. 33 upon a Thursday. It is stated by 
Mr. Mann 1 , in his Essay on the time of our Saviour's 
Passion, (and the assertion, so far as I am aware, is 
correct,) that the paschal feast did not fall on a Thurs- 
day from a.d. 26 (exclusive) to a.d. 35 (inclusive), 
except in the year a.d. 33. What is the result ? That 

h 1 Diss. 357, first Ed. De Morgan, in his Book of Almanacks, appears 
to make the full moon at Jerusalem occur two hours later ; but the latter 
work does not profess to give the exact time within a couple of hours. 

' De anno emortuali, &c. ; 



88 THE TIME 01? COMMENCEMENT 

the year a.d. 83, and no other, was the year in which 
our Saviour was crucified. 

Our Lord's crucifixion has thus been referred to the 
Passover of a.d. 33, from a careful comparison of histo- 
rical data, without the least reference to the fulfilment 
of prophecy, which of course could not be allowed to 
accomplish itself by influencing our view of the current 
of events. Having arrived, however, at the above con- 
clusion, upon perfectly independent principles, we may 
confirm the result by pointing out in how striking a 
manner the prediction of the seventy weeks in the 
book of Daniel is fulfilled upon this hypothesis. The 
prophecy is one of the most remarkable in holy Scrip- 
ture, both from the definite manner in which the periods 
of years are marked, and the certainty with which the 
point from which they commence can be ascertained. 
The words of the prophet are as follows : — 

1. " Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people 
and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression and 
to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for 
iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and 
to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the 
most Holy. 

2. " Know therefore and understand, that from the 
going forth of the commandment to restore and to 
build Jerusalem unto Messiah the Prince shall be seven 
weeks and 82 weeks. 

3. " (In the seven weeks) the street shall be built 
again, and the wall, even in perilous times. 

4. "And after the 62 weeks shall Messiah be cut 
off, but not for Himself; and (thereafter) the people of 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR'S MINISTRY. 89 

the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the 
sanctuary, and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and 
unto the end of the war desolations are determined. 

5. " And the one week shall confirm the covenant 
with many k , and in the midst of the week, (on in the 
half of the week, 'Ef ra y]\xi(iei ifidofiddos, Septuagint,) 
he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. 

6. " And (thenceforth) for the overspreading of abo- 
minations he shall make it desolate, even until the -con- 
summation, and that determined shall be poured upon 
the desolate 1 ." 

The weeks are of course weeks of years, and thus we 
have 7 weeks, or 49 years, for the rebuilding of the city ; 
then an interval of -62 weeks, or 434 years ; and then the 
last week, or a compass of 7 years, during which the 
prophet tells, us, 1. That the new covenant should be 
introduced; 2. That in the middle of the week, or, 
according to the Septuagint, in the half, i. e. the latter 
half of the week, the Messiah should cause the ceremonial 
law of Moses to cease; and 3. That at the end of the 
week, being the end also of the 70 weeks, the Messiah 
should be cut off, not for Himself, but as an atonement 
for the sins of mankind. 

It will be observed that the decree from which the 70 
weeks, or 490 years, are to be reckoned, is not the decree 
to rebuild the sanctuary, but to restore the street and wall 
of Jerusalem. The decree of Cyrus to the Jews was to 
rebuild the temple m , and the decree of Darius the Mede 
was to the same effect 11 , and the temple was rebuilt and 

k Kai hvva\i.(i>(jii hia6r\K.T]V ttoWoIs e/3So/ia? /^ta. Sept. 

1 Dan. ix. 24. m Ezra i. 2. u Ezra vi. 1. 



90 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

finished accordingly . But after this, Artaxerxes, in the 
7th year of his reign, issued a decree to Ezra to esta- 
blish Jerusalem as a city, by appointing magistrates and 
judges, with the power of inflicting capital punishment p ; 
and this included the rebuilding of the street, and also of 
the wall, for Ezra tells us that God had " extended mercy 
unto them in the sight of the kings of Persia ... to give 
them a ivall in Judah and in Jerusalem -." The decree, 
therefore, to which the prophet refers is that of Artaxerxes, 
(as indeed all commentators agree,) and we have now to 
investigate the precise time at which it was issued. Ezra 
tells us that "the first day of the first month (Nisan) was 
the foundation of the going up r from Babylon 8 ," and that 
this was in the seventh year of the reign of Artaxerxes*. 
When, then, did Artaxerxes begin to reign ? We have 
some light upon this from Scripture itself, and we shall 
refer to it before we cite the heathen writers. We have 
seen that the Nisan in question was in the seventh year 
of Artaxerxes ; and Ezra tells us in another place u that 
the fifth month or Ab was also in the seventh year, so 
that he did not ascend the throne at any time between 
Nisan and Ab, that is, between April and August. 
Again, Nehemiah informs us that Chisleu, or December, 
was in the 20th year of Artaxerxes x , and that the month 
of Nisan was also in the 20th year?, so that Artaxerxes 
did not commence his reign at any time during the 
interval between Nisan or April, and Chisleu or Decem- 
ber ; and putting the testimonies of Ezra and Nehe- 

o Ezra vi. 15. p Ezra vii. 25. q Ezra ix. 9 ; and see Nehem. i. 3. 

r Marginal reading for " began to go up," in the text. 

■ Ezra vii. 9. ' Ezra vii. 7. 

u Ezra vii. 8. x Nehem, LI. v Nehem. ii. 1. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 91 

miah together, Artaxerxes could only have come to the 
throne some time between Ab and Chisleu, i. e. between 
August and December. 

But in what year did this occur? Thucydides, the 
most accurate of historians, and the contemporary of 
Artaxerxes himself, states in his immortal work, the 
Peloponnesian War, that when the summer half of the 
seventh year of the war, i.e. b.c. 425, was ended 2 , and 
the winter half had set in a , an envoy from Persia was 
intercepted and brought to Athens, and that the Athe- 
nians thereupon sent an embassy to Ephesus, where they 
heard that Artaxerxes was just dead b . From this account 
it is evident that the Athenian envoys heard the news at 
Ephesus about December, so that the death of Artaxerxes 
had occurred about the month of November. Now Dio- 
dorus Siculus states that Artaxerxes reigned 40 years , 
and he afterwards repeats the same thing without any 
variation* 1 ; and as all history harmonizes with the fact, 
we may safely assume it. If we reckon back these 40 
years from November b.c. 425, it will carry us to No- 
vember b.c. 465, as the commencement of the reign of 
Artaxerxes, which agrees with the inferences from the 
passages noticed in Scripture, that he mounted the throne 
some time between August and December. The seventh 

" Rat to depos eYeXevra. iv. 49. 

Toi/S" eniyiyvoptvov ^et/xcoyos-. iv. 50. 

Ol nvdopevot avrodt. ftacrLkea 'Aprat-epfjriv toi> &ep£ov vecoari TedvTjKora 
(/caTa yap tovtov tov \povov ireXevTrjo-ev,) eV oi/cot ave\u>pr]o-av. iv. 50. 

Trjv hi apxh v 8ia8e^dpevos 6 'Apra^ep^rjs e(3ao-[\evo-ev i'rrj Te<T<TapdicovTa. 
xi. 69. 

d 'Apra^ep^rjs S' 6 rebu ILepo-av @ao~ikevs ireKevTrjo-ev <lp£as ?ttj recraapd- 
Kovra. xii. 64. 



92 THE TIME OF COMMENCEMENT 

vear of the reisrn would therefore be from November 
b.c. 459, to November B.C. 458. The decree conse- 
quently would be dated the 1st Nisan, b.c. 458, that day- 
being stated as " the foundation of the going up from 
Babylon 6 ." The prophet therefore predicts that during 
7 weeks, or 49 years, from Nisan, b.c. 458, the street and 
wall of Jerusalem should be built (as it was) in troublous 
times ; that an interval of 62 weeks, or 434 years, should 
then intervene ; and after that should commence the last 
week, which should bring in the covenant, set aside 
the law of Moses, and witness the cutting off of the Mes- 
siah. The 7 weeks and 62 weeks make together 483 
years, and reckoning them from the month of Nisan b.c. 
458, we come to the month of Nisan a.d. 26, as the 
commencement of the last week. Was then the prophecy 
fulfilled ? In the course of that week, viz. from Nisan 
a.d. 26, to Nisan a.d. 33, the covenant was confirmed to 
many, first by John the Baptist, and then by our Saviour. 
" In the midst of the week," i. e. in October, a.d. 29, 
being just three years and six months from the com- 
mencement of the week, or seven years, Jesus began to 
preach the new dispensation, which was to supersede the 
sacrifices and oblations, and this ministry of Christ was 
continued throughout the half, i.e. the latter half of the 
week, viz. for three years and six months, measured from 
October, a.d. 29, to the Passover, a.d. 33. And lastly 
and chiefly, at the Passover of a.d. 33, being the end 
of this half-week, and also the expiration exactly of the 
70 weeks, or 490 years, the Messiah was cut off, and the 
typical sacrifices of the law were concluded and deter- 

e Ezra vii. 9. 



AND DURATION OF OUR SAVIOUR S MINISTRY. 93 

mined by the real sacrifice of Christ, once offered for the 
sins of the whole world. 

Prom that time forth the Jews were from year to year 
oppressed more and more by the Romans, until they 
were driven to arms against their masters, and even- 
tually "the abomination of desolation," spoken of by 
Daniel the prophet, stood in the holy sanctuary, and 
the city was destroyed, 






CHAPTER III. 

THE TIME OF ST. PATTl's FIEST AKEJVAL AT COEINTH. 

We now propose to investigate some of the leading 
dates in the life of St. Paul, as 1. The year of the con- 
version ; 2. The time of his visit to Jerusalem, at the 
martyrdom of James, the brother of John, Acts xi. 30 ; 
3. The date of his arrival at Corinth on the first occasion, 
Acts xviii. 1 ; 4. The time of his visit to Jerusalem, 
when he was arrested in the temple ; and<_|. The date 
of his release from imprisonment at Rome. 

This is the order in which the events followed each 
other, but it will be necessary in our discussion to com- 
mence with the third question, viz. What was the date of 
Paul's arrival at Corinth at his first visit ? as on the re- 
sult of this will depend the year to which the conversion 
must be referred. 

When all our inquiries have been answered, the har- 
mony of the whole will be the strongest argument in 
support of each particular part ; but at present, as we 
cannot shew the probability of Paul's arrival at Corinth 
at a certain time by assuming any given date of his his- 
tory anterior or subsequent,, we must break ground by 



TIME OF ST. PAUL S FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 95 

an appeal to independent circumstances, peculiarly and 
exclusively applicable to the arrival itself. 

We have two notes of time in the account of Paul's 
visit to Corinth, which may furnish us with a clue to the 
period of its occurrence. First, when Paul reached 
Corinth, he found there Aquila, a Jew of Pontus, "just 
(7^/)oc^0ar(ws , ) come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, 
because that Claudius had commanded all Jews to de- 
part from Rome p ;" and Secondly, towards the end of 
Paul's sojourn at Corinth (which was a year and a half q ), 
Gallio was appointed proconsul of Achaia. 

1. Expulsion from Rome was generally resorted to as 
a measure of security, and was enforced against a parti- 
cular class of inhabitants when the nation to which they 
belonged was either in open rebellion, or was under 
grievous suspicion. Thus, when Varus lost his legions 
in Gaul, Augustus immediately issued a proclamation 
that all Gauls should depart from Rome r . As the edict 
against the Jews was promulgated by Claudius, whose 
reign was from a.d. 41 to a.d. 54, we have then to look 
for some outbreak of the Jews against the Roman autho- 
rity during this interval, and such we find in the histories 
of both Josephus and Tacitus. The former tells us that 
during the procuratorship of Cumanus, some Galileans, 
in passing through Samaria, on their way to the feast at 
Jerusalem, were intercepted by the Samaritans and slain. 
The Galileans flew to Cumanus for justice, but the pro- 
curator, having been bribed by the Samaritans, slighted 
their remonstrances. Upon this the multitudes assem- 
bled at Jerusalem for the feast, determined on taking 

v Acts sviii. 2. 1 Acts xviii. 11. r Dion, lvi. 23. 



96 THE TIME OF ST. PAUL'S 

reprisals into their own hands, and marching down into 
Samaria and joining their bands to Eleazar, a noted 
bandit, who had been proscribed by the Romans, sacked 
and burnt some of the Samaritan villages. Cumanus 
hastened down with horse and foot, and an engagement 
took place. Some of the Romans were slain 8 , but in the 
end the Jews were defeated, many killed, and more taken 
prisoners. Judaea, if not now in open rebellion, was ex- 
pected momentarily to be so. Josephus calls it "a re- 
volt" (airoo-Tacris), Ant. xx. 6, 3 ; and Tacitus says it 
was a miracle that the whole province was not in flames, 
Tac. Ann. xii. 54. Quadratus, the prefect of Syria, 
marched with his forces to Samaria, where he summoned 
the Jews and Samaritans before him, and investigated 
the cause of the disturbance, executed those whom Cu- 
manus had taken, and then adjourned the hearing till he 
should reach Juclsea. Some time after he proceeded to 
Lydda, where the trial was resumed, and the result was 
that further executions took place, and Cumanus, and 
Celer his tribune, were sent in chains to Rome, to plead 
before Claudius. After this, Quadratus marched to 
Jerusalem, to check any similar outbreak, and was pre- 
sent at the feast of the Passover 1 . It is evident from 
this narrative, that the feast at which the Jews had 
marched into Samaria, and joined their forces to the 
bandit Eleazar, was the preceding feast, and therefore 
the feast of Tabernacles. In what year then did this 
occur ? Josephus informs us that Cumanus and Celer, 
who had been sent to Rome by Quadratus, were con- 

s Cfesi milites, Tac. Ann. xii. 54. 
1 Jos. Bell. ii. 12, 6 ; Ant. xx. 6, 1. 



FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 97 

detuned, after trial, the one to banishment, and the other 
to death, and then subjoins, " and Claudius also sends 
Felix, the brother of Pallas (vice Cunianus), to take the 
command of affairs in Judaea ; and having now completed 
his 12th year, he invests Agrippa with the tetrarchy," 
&C. 1 The banishment of Cunianus, and the appoint- 
ment of Felix, was therefore a little before the completion 
of Claudius's 12th year. But the 12th year of his reign 
expired on the 25th January a.d. 53. Cumanus and 
Celer, therefore, had been sent by Quadratus to Rome 
in a.d. 52, and at the Passover of that year Quadratus 
had been at Jerusalem, and the outbreak of the Jews 
had occurred at the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 51. This 
inference from the account of Joseplius is fully con- 
firmed by the narrative of Tacitus, who places the trial 
of Cumanus before Claudius, and the pacification of the 
province by the intervention of Quadratus, in the con- 
sulship of Faustus Sulla and Salvius Otho, that is, in 
the year a.d. 52 m ; and if so, the revolt of Judaea must 
be referred to the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 51. Upon 
the concurrent testimony, therefore, of Joseplius and 
Tacitus, we may place the disturbances in Judaea at the 
feast of Tabernacles a.d. 51, i. e. on the 8th day of 
October of that year ; and assuming this to be so, intelli- 
gence of the rebellion would reach Rome in December, 
and Claudius, whose timidity of character is notorious, 



Ti.ep.irei Be kol KXavBios &rj\iKa UdWavros ade\cp6i> (vice Cumani) rav 
Kara ttjv 'lovBalav irpoaTrjcTopevov Trpaypdrcov' Tn? Be dp^Tjs BoadeKorov ctos 
tj'Bt] neTrXrjpccKcos Bcope'irai tov ' Ay pimrav Tjj QCk'nnrov rerpap^ia, &c. 
Ant. xx. 7, 1. 

m Tac. Ann. xii. 54. 



98 THE TIME OF ST. PAUL S 

would follow up the news by a summary order for the 
expulsion of the Jews from Rome. 

Josephus, out of tenderness, perhaps, to his country- 
men, has passed over this edict in silence, but, if we mis- 
take not, there are some traces of it to be found in Tacitus. 
In the very first chapter relating to the events of a.d. 52, 
occurs the following passage : " A decree was passed (as 
violent as it was nugatory) for the expulsion of the Chal- 
deans (Mathematici) from Italy 11 ." And if the Jews were 
connected with the Chaldeans by Tacitus, whose igno- 
rance, at least on this part of the Jewish history, is very 
remarkable , the expulsion referred to by St. Luke, in 
the Acts, is confirmed by the heathen historian. It is 
singular that the two edicts, unless they were identical, 
should both have been issued at the same moment. 
They both also agree in this particular, that Tacitus 
calls the decree, mentioned by him, " nugatory," and we 
know that the order of Claudius, referred to by Luke, 
was not long in force, for the Jews soon returned to the 
capital, and lived there in the same freedom as before. 

The edict, then, against the Jews was promulgated 
about December a.d. 51 ; and if so, Aquila would reach 
Corinth about the end of January a.d. 52, and as Paul 
came thither just after him, we may place his arrival 
(to name a particular day) about the 1st of February 
a.d. 52. 

2. Let us now examine how far this date is consistent 
with the other note of time, viz. the proconsulship of 

n De Mathematicis Italia pellendis factum senatus-consultum atrox 
et irritum. Tac. Ann. xii. 52. See Suet. Tib. 36. 

° Compare Tac. Ann. xii. 54, with Jos. Bell. ii. 12, 3 ; Ant. xx. 6. 1. 



FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 99 

Gallic The sojourn of Paul at Corinth, altogether, was 
a year and six months 5 , so that if he arrived at Corinth 
the 1st of February a.d. 52, his departure would be 
about the 1st of August a.d. 53, which would allow 
quite time enough for reaching Jerusalem at the feast of 
Tabernacles (as he intended) on the 16th September of 
that year q . Gallio had been some little time (rjfiepa? 
iKavas, Acts xviii. 18) in office when Paul left, so that 
Gallio would probably come to Corinth a little before 
midsummer a.d. 53, which would be the usual season 
of a proconsul's entrance into his province, the order 
being that the proconsuls should leave Rome by the 15th 
of April 1 . Can we then collect from the few facts 
known of Gallio, the probability of his holding a pro- 
vince in a.d. 53, or, at least, can we shew that such an 
event has no improbability attached to it? The ad- 
vancement of Gallio must be ascribed to the influence 
of his brother Seneca. In the very first year of the reign 
of Claudius, a.d. 41, Seneca was banished 3 , and remained 
in disgrace until a.d. 49, and it is unlikely that during 
this interval Gallio would have enjoyed the imperial 
favour, while his brother was in exile. But in a.d. 49, 
Agrippina, who had just married Claudius, endeavoured 
to make herself popular by the recall of Seneca, and 
procured also at the same time his nomination to 

p 'Etcddio-e re iviavrbv kcu fir/vas !£ SiSuctkcoi' iv avrols rbv \6yov rod 
GeoO. Acts xviii. 11. 

4 Paul sailed from Philippi after the expiration of the Passover, for the 
purpose of reaching Jerusalem at the Pentecost, the 50th day from the 2nd 
day of the seven days of unleavened bread. He thus allowed himself only 
forty-four days from Philippi to Jerusalem; and twice on the road, viz. at 
Troas and Tyre, he tarried a whole week. 

r Dion, lx. 17. s Dion, lx. 8. 

H 2 



100 THE TIME OF ST. PAUL'S 

the praetorship, Veniani exilii pro Annaeo Seneca, simul 
Praeturam impetrat, Tac. Ann. xii. 8. The elections 
for the praetorship were in the autumn, and the praetors 
entered upon office the 1st of January following. Now 
if Gallio, as well as Seneca, had been nominated to the 
praetorship at Seneca's return, it is scarcely possible 
that Tacitus should not have mentioned it. Neither is 
it likely that Seneca, immediately on his own recall, and 
before he had established his influence at court, should 
have exerted himself to obtain the praetorship for his 
brother. It is improbable, therefore, that Gallio was 
amongst those elected in a.d. 49, and if so, he would 
not be in actual office as praetor for the year a.d. 50. 
But there is no objection to the hypothesis that Seneca's 
influence led to the nomination of Gallio to the praetor- 
ship in the autumn of a.d. 50, so that he might be 
actual praetor for the year a.d. 51. It was an in- 
flexible rule of Claudius, and founded on the justest 
principles, that no two offices should be held consecu- 
tively, but that, on the expiration of any magistracy, 
there should at least be an interval of a year, during 
which the functus officio should be at Rome, and ready 
to answer any accusations that might be brought against 
him for maladministration 1 . If Gallio then was praetor 
in a.d. 51, he was at Rome during a.d. 5a, but in a.d. 
53 he was capable of taking a province, and his brother 
Seneca, being then at the height of his popularity, might, 
with every probability in its favour, have secured for him 
the proconsulship of Achaia. It is clear that Gallio in 
the following year, a.d. 54, was not in Achaia, but 

' Dion, lx. 25. 



FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 101 

at Rome, as we find him exerting his wit there on the 
subject of the death of Claudius 11 . Assuming, then, that 
Gallio was proconsul for the year a.d. 53, he would 
leave Rome about the middle of April, and arrive at 
Corinth, as we have supposed, a little before midsummer 
a.d. 53, a month or two before Paul's departure. 

Having thus fixed the arrival of Paul at Corinth in 
a.d. 52, let us trace forward the apostle's history, to see 
the bearings of this hypothesis upon the date of his visit 
to Jerusalem, when he was arrested in the temple, and 
which in a future discussion will be referred to the 
time of the Pentecost in a.d. 58. If Paul came to 
Corinth on the 1st of February a.d. 52, it follows 
that he quitted it, after a year and six months, on the 
1st of August a.d. 53, and was at Jerusalem at the feast 
of Tabernacles, the 16th of September in the same year. 
He then went down to Antioch, and, after staying a little 
time there, yjiovov riva, Acts xviii. 23, passed through 
Galatia and Phrygia to Ephesus. On his way to Jerusalem, 
he had promised the Ephesians to return to them after 
the feast of Tabernacles, so that he would probably arrive 
at Ephesus in the spring of a.d. 54. He sojourned there 
three years, rpieriav, Acts xx. 31, and left, sometime be- 
tween the Passover and Pentecost, 1 Cor. v. 7, xvi. 8, 
in the year a.d. 57, and remained during the winter at 
Corinth, for the space of three months, fxrjvas Tpeis, 
Acts xx. 3. At the Passover of the following year, a.d. 
58, he was at Philippi, Acts xx. 6 : so that if we can 
establish, on independent grounds, that Paul was at 
Corinth the first time in a.d. 52, it results that he was 

■ Dion, lx. 35. 



102 TIME OF ST. PAUL S FIRST ARRIVAL AT CORINTH. 

at Philippi at the Passover of a.d. 58 ; and that Paul was 
at Philippi in a.d. 58, we shall shew hereafter, by a per- 
fectly different chain of reasoning. On the other hand, 
if we can prove, as we shall, that Paul was at Philippi at 
the Passover of a.d. 58, we have only to reckon back- 
wards to arrive at the conclusion that Paul reached 
Corinth, on the first occasion, early in a.d. 52. Thus 
either date supports the other, and one being conceded, 
the other will follow. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE DATE OE ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 



This question depends altogether on a passage in the 
Galatians. St. Paul, in speaking of the great mercy of 
God in having wrought his miraculous conversion, tells 
us, that immediately afterwards he went into Arabia, and 
returned to Damascus: "Then," he proceeds, "after 
three years, I went up to Jerusalem," eireiTa fiera err) 
rpla avrjXOov els 'lepoaoXvfxa, i. 18 ; " Then, fourteen 
years after, I went up again to Jerusalem," eireira 8ia 
deKarecradptov er&v ttolXlv avefirjv eis'lepocroXvpa, ii. 1. 
We have here, then, two consecutive periods of three 
years and fourteen years, making together seventeen 
years, between the conversion and this second visit to 
Jerusalem. Now this second visit, which fell after an 
interval of seventeen years from his conversion, can be 
no other than that which we have placed at the feast of 
Tabernacles a.d. 58, and if so, then, reckoning back- 
ward the seventeen years, we shall arrive at the feast 
of Tabernacles a.d. 36 ; about which period, then, we 
should place the martyrdom of Stephen, and the per- 
secution of the Christians at Jerusalem, and then the 
conversion of St. Paul on his way to Damascus. 



104 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 

The circumstances of the time presented a most fa- 
vourable opportunity for the exercise of these severities 
against the Church. Pilate, in a.d. 36, had made a 
merciless massacre of the Samaritans, and a complaint 
had been lodged against him before Vitellius, the go- 
vernor of Syria, who was now at Antioch, having just 
arrived from the Euphrates, where he had concluded 
peace with the Parthians. Pilate was ordered by Vi- 
tellius to meet the charge, and probably, for this pur- 
pose, quitted Jerusalem to defend himself personally at 
Antioch. The result was, that Pilate was deposed by 
Vitellius, and ordered to Rome, and Marcellus, a friend 
of Vitellius, was commissioned to superintend the affairs 
of Judaea until a successor should be appointed. Pilate 
appears to have set sail in the winter of a.d. 36, for 
he did not reach Rome until after the death of Ti- 
berius, which occurred on the 16th March a.d. 37 x . 
The Jews were always on the watch for an occasion of 
escaping from the pressure of the Roman yoke, and more 
particularly of exercising their independence by religious 
persecution for any supposed breach of their law, — and 
what more convenient juncture could be expected to offer 
itself than the present ? Pilate was in trouble about him- 
self, and not likely to interfere in matters of a religious, 
and not a political, character, and there is no improbabi- 
lity in the conjecture that Pilate was even absent from 
Jerusalem in attendance upon the governor of Syria, and 
that Marcellus, the locum tenens, had not yet arrived at 
the Jewish capital. It was just such an opportunity 

x Jos. Ant. xviii. 4, 2. 



THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 105 

when an outbreak of popular feeling would hurry Ste- 
phen to the death enacted by the law for blasphemy, 
and when the zeal of Saul, unchecked by the civil power, 
would pour out the vials of wrath upon the detested but 
unoffending followers of Jesus of Nazareth. 

Some chronologers, as Greswell, have referred the 
martyrdom of Stephen to the feast of Pentecost a.d. 37, 
at which time the Jews were again under great tempta- 
tions to commit a similar outrage. Vitellius had visited 
Jerusalem at the Passover of that year, and was return- 
ing thence to Antioch, when he very unexpectedly re- 
ceived orders from Tiberius, the patron of Herod Antipas, 
the tetrarch of Galilee, to march against Aretas, kins; of 
Petra, who had lately declared war against Antipas, and 
defeated him or his general in a pitched battle. Vitellius, 
on receipt of this despatch, led back his forces on his way 
to Petra, and went up with Antipas to Jerusalem, and was 
there at the feast of Pentecost, on the 9th of May. Four 
days after the feast came the news of the death of Tibe- 
rius, when Vitellius, whose heart rankled with revenge 
against Antipas, for an affront offered him the year be- 
fore on the Euphrates, turned his back on the tetrarch 
and retired to Antioch. The Jews were now left to 
themselves. Marcellus may have been still the locum 
tenens, but no regular successor to Pilate had yet arrived. 
The prefect of Syria w r as at Antioch, and Tiberius, whose 
severity they had dreaded, was dead 7 . Under such a 
fortunate combination of circumstances, the Jews might 
well rush upon their prey, and vent their smothered fury 
upon Stephen, the most zealous of their enemies. 

y Jos. Ant. xviii. 5, 3. 



106 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 

If this hypothesis appear the more probable, it may be 
adopted. Whether Stephen suffered at the Tabernacles 
of a.d. 36, or at the Pentecost of a.d. 37, cannot, in the 
author's judgment, be determined with any degree of 
certainty, but that the martyrdom occurred within these 
limits can hardly be questioned. Either hypothesis will 
harmonize with the conclusion established in the preced- 
ing chapter, viz. that Paul's return to Jerusalem, after 
his first visit to Corinth, was at the feast of Tabernacles 
a.d. 53. If, indeed, we assume the three years and the 
fourteen years, mentioned in the Galatians, and making 
together 17 years, to mean 17 complete years, then, if 
Paul arrived at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 
53, his conversion would be 17 years before Christ, at 
the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 36. But this construction 
of the apostle's words, " then after three years" (eireiTa 
/jletol err] rpia, Gal. i. 18), is by no means necessary; for, 
according to the Greek idiom, jiera errj rpia, "after 
three years," may mean, not after the expiration of three 
full years, but in the course of the third year current. 
Thus, " after 40 days," /mera reacrapaKOvra rj/JLepa?, 
in Bell. i. 16, 2, is rendered by Josephus in the Anti- 
quities, " on the 40th day," eh TecrcrapaKocrTrjv Tjfiepav, 
Ant. xiv. 15, 4. So " after two years," fxera err/ Svo, 
Bell. i. 13, 1, is rendered in the Antiquities, " and in the 
second year," Aevrepcp 8e eret, &c, Ant. xiv. 13, 3. The 
17th year from the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 53, reckoned 
backward, would be from the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 
36, to the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 37, and whether 
Stephen suffered at the close of a.d. 36, or in the first 
half of a.d. 37, the arrival of Paul at Jerusalem at the 



THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S CONVERSION. 107 

feast of Tabernacles a.d. 53, would equally be said to 
occur after 17 years. 

It is not an uncommon opinion, and therefore we 
notice it, that not only the three years, but also the four- 
teen years, are to be dated from the time of St. Paul's con- 
version ; but this is not the natural sense, and cannot be 
adopted without absolute necessity. Supposing, how- 
ever, that the language itself offered no objection, the 
assumption could not be made to harmonize with the 
facts. Thus, if the voyage from Corinth to Jerusalem 
be placed, as it must be, at the feast of Tabernacles a.d. 
53, 14 years before that would carry us to the feast of 
Tabernacles a.d. 39, as the time of the conversion. Paul 
visited Jerusalem three years after his conversion, Gal. 
i. 18, which would therefore be in a.d. 42, and we shall 
shew presently, as a date to be received without the 
least question, that he was again at Jerusalem at the 
Passover of a.d. 44. Now in this interval of two years, 
from a.d. 42 to a.d. 44, occurred the following events. 
Paul, after attempting to preach at Jerusalem, was 
obliged to leave it, and was sent by the disciples to 
Tarsus, where he sojourned, Acts ix. 30 ; the Churches 
had an interval of rest, Acts ix. 31 ; Peter made a 
general circuit, (Sia iravrcou,) Acts ix. 32; Cornelius 
was called at Csesarea, Acts x. ; Peter returned to 
Jerusalem, and a council was held on the subject of the 
admission of the Gentiles, Acts xi. 1 ; the gospel was 
preached to the Greeks at Antioch, Acts xi. 19 ; the 
Church of Jerusalem heard of it, and sent Barnabas thither, 
Acts xi. 22 ; Barnabas went on to Tarsus, and brought 
Saul back with him, Acts xi. 25 ; Saul and Barnabas 



108 THE DATE OE ST. PAUL S CONVERSION. 

remained at Antioch a whole year, eviavrov o\ov, Acts 
xi. 26 ; Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem before 
the Passover, a.d. 44. Now these events are far too 
numerous to be compressed within the space of two 
years only, and if so, Paul's first visit to Jerusalem, 
after his conversion, could not have been in the year 
a.d. 42 ; that is, his conversion could not have been 
three years before, in a.d. 39 ; in which year however 
it must be placed if the 14 years before his visit in 
a.d. 53 were dated from the conversion, and not from 
the expiration of the three years. 

It follows that the three years and the 14 years of the 
Galatians must be distinct and consecutive periods, and, 
the first visit to Jerusalem after the conversion being in 
a.d. 39, the conversion itself must be carried back three 
years earlier, viz. to the feast of Tabernacles, a.d. 36, or 
the feast of Pentecost, a.d. 37. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TEXTE OF THE YISIT OP PATtt, AST) BAR> T ABAS TO JEPirSAXEir, trHES - 
THEY WERE SENT TIP WITH THE ALUS PKOJI THE ANTIOCHIA> T CHUBCH. 

The circumstances of this visit are familiar to all. 
Agabus, a member of the Jerusalem Church, and who had 
lately come down with some others to Antioch, predicted 
that a general famine was at hand, and therefore the 
Antiochian converts made a charitable collection amongst 
themselves for the relief of their poorer brethren at Jeru- 
salem, and forwarded it by the hands of Paul and Bar- 
nabas. The two envoys arrived at Jerusalem just before 
a Passover. Herod Agrippa, probably while Paul and 
Barnabas were at Jerusalem, slew James the brother of 
John, and furthermore cast Peter into prison, with the 
view of putting him also to death, after the Passover. 
Agrippa, when the feast was ended, went down to Cse- 
sarea, and there abode, Sierpifiev, Acts xii. 19, and not 
long after died suddenly in the theatre. 

We have here two notes of time in connection with the 
journey of Paul and Barnabas, — first, the famine ; and 
secondly, the death of Agrippa. Luke tells us that the 
famine came to pass in the reign of Claudius, Acts xi. 
28, and therefore after the 24th of January a.d. 41, when 



110 THE TIME OF PAUL AND BARNABAs's 

Claudius ascended the throne, and before the 13th of 
October a.d. 54, when Claudius died. Josephus speaks 
of the same famine, and states that it occurred under 
the procuratorships of Cuspius Fadus and Tiberius Alex- 
ander 2 . Cuspius Fadus was appointed in the latter half 
of a.d. 44, and was succeeded by Tiberius Alexander in 
a.d. 46. The famine, therefore, may have commenced, 
according to Josephus, in the latter part of a.d. 44; but 
apparently it had begun to be felt somewhat earlier, 
for Cuspius Fadus was sent to Judaea in the latter half 
of a.d. 44, in the place of Agrippa, who had lately died; 
and in the lifetime of Agrippa, and therefore probably 
not later than midsummer a.d. 44, the Syrians and 
Sidonians had arrived at Caesarea, to make peace with 
Agrippa, " because their country was nourished by the 
king's country*." They were evidently straitened at 
this time for provisions from the prevailing scarcity. 
These notices of the famine therefore would lead us to 
the conclusion, that, as Paul and Barnabas came up from 
Antioch to Jerusalem in anticipation of a famine, and 
just before a certain Passover, this Passover could be 
none other than that of a.d. 44. 

But we shall arrive at this date with greater certainty 
by adverting to the other circumstance connected with 
the apostle's visit, viz. the death of Agrippa. 

The account in the Acts runs : "And he (Agrippa) went 
down from Judaea to Caesarea, and there abode, {kcHX e/cei 
SieTpifieiS). And Herod was highly displeased with them 

z *Ett\ tovtois 8rj (Fadus and Alexander) nai tov fieyav Ai/xov Kara ttjp 
'lovbaiav a-vpefir] yevetrdai. Ant. XX. 5, 2. 
a Acts xii. 20. 



VISIT TO JERUSALEM. Ill 

of Tyre and Sidon," &c, when follow the particulars of 
his death in the theatre". The awful circumstances related 
by St. Luke were evidently so close after the Passover, as 
to force themselves from their proximity into the sacred 
narrative, though the writer had been treating of dif- 
ferent matters. The words e/cet Sierpiftev, do not imply 
any length of time, and should more properly have been 
rendered " was sojourning there," when the Tyrians and 
Sidonians implored his clemency, &c. 

Agrippa, it is manifest, never returned again to Jeru- 
salem, so that he could not have long survived the Pass- 
over, for he was a rigid observer of the law of Moses, 
and would have deemed it a heinous sin not to attend 
the regular festivals. Accident or illness might lead to 
his absence from some one of the feasts, as the next 
Pentecost, but he must have worshipped again at Jeru- 
salem before the Passover of the following year. His 
death, then, may probably be placed after an interval of 
two or three months, at the most, from the Passover 
when Paul and Barnabas were present with him at Jeru- 
salem. In what year, then, did this occur ? The an- 
swer will be found in Josephus. He mentions that 
Agrippa, at his death, had completed the third year of 
his reign over all Judcea : rplrov eros avrco ttjs oAtjs 
'lovSala? Treir\r]pG>TO, Ant. xix. 8, 2 ; (SefiaaiAevKco? 
[xev €ttj rpia, Bell. ii. 11, 6 ; and that he had reigned 
seven years, reckoned from the time of his appointment 
as king of Trachonitis, aycov tt}? fiaaiAela? efi8op.ov' 
rerrapas jjlIv ovv eiri Tatov Kalcrapo? efiacriXevarev 
eviavTOVs, tt)$ pkv QiXiinrov rerpapyjas els rpieTtau 
b Acts xii, 19. 



112 THE TIME OF PAUL AND BARNABAS's 

ap^as, ra TeTaprco Se koll rrjv 'HpcoSov 7rpocr€i\r](f)a>s, 
Ant. xix. 8, 2. Now Agrippa was made king of all 
Judcea by Claudius not long after his accession, and as 
Claudius succeeded Caligula on the 24th of January 
a.d. 41, the appointment of Agrippa may have taken 
place in February or March, and three years from that 
time would bring us to February or March a.d. 44 ; but 
as at his death Agrippa had completed three years, he 
lived somewhat longer. Again, Agrippa was made king 
of Traclionitis by Caligula, soon after the latter came to 
the throne. Tiberius died either on the 16th of March, 
a.d. 37, Tac. Ann. vi. 50, or on the 26th of March, a.d. 
37, Dion, lviii. 28. Caligula was then in Campania, but 
he celebrated the funeral at Rome, Just. Calig. 13 ; and 
a few days after the ceremony, and therefore some 
time in April, he created Agrippa king of Trachonitis . 
Counting, then, seven years from April a.d. 37, as the 
commencement of Agrippa's reign, we arrive at April 
a.d. 44 as the completion of the 7th year. There can 
be no doubt, therefore, that the death of Agrippa must 
be placed in a.d. 44, and not long after the Passover, 
which was on the 31st of March. 

This conclusion is confirmed by a circumstance men- 
tioned by Josephus. Agrippa, the Jewish historian tells 
us, died during the celebration of some games "in hon- 
our of Claudius, for his safety," eh rrju Kalcrapos 
TLfirjv virep tyjs aooT-qpias avrov, Ant. xix. 8, 2. I know 

c Tatos 5' cos eVi 'Paprjv TvaprjV, ayccv rov Tifiepiov to troop-a, racpds re 
avrov TroieiTai noKvTekels vopois Trarpiois' 'AypiTTTrav 8e aidrjpepbv Xveiv 
ovra. npodvpov, KooXvpa 'Avtcovm tjv. Aie\dovaa>v peuroi ov noXkaiv rjpepa>v. 
.... fia<jCkea Ka8lo~TT]o-i avrov. Allt. XVlii. 6, 10. 



VISIT TO JERUSALEM. 113 

not what this can refer to but the safe return of Clau- 
dius from Britain to Rome, in January a.d. 44, after a 
six months' absence. Great festivities were everywhere 
celebrated on the occasion, and no doubt when the news 
reached Judaea, which would be about April, the same 
mark of respect would be paid to him by Agrippa. 
Claudius being not only a patron of the Jews generally, 
but of Agrippa in particular, upon whom he had con- 
ferred the kingdom of Jud&ea, what more likely than 
that Agrippa, when he heard of the emperor's return, 
should be present at games "in honour of the Caesar, 
for his safety," eh rrjv Ka/crayoos* Ti\xr)v virep ttJs 
crcoTTqplas avrov. The death of Agrippa, on this hy- 
pothesis, and allowing some time for the preparations 
for the festival, would be about May, a.d. 44, and if 
so, the visit of Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem would 
be, as we have stated, a little before the Passover of 
the same year. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DATE~OF ST. PATTl's VISIT TO JERUSALEM WHEN HE WAS 
ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 

We refer this visit to the year a.d. 58, and we shall 
endeavour to establish this by shewing, first, That the 
visit cannot be placed in any earlier year than a.d. 58; 
2. That it cannot be placed in any later year; and 3. 
That there are certain particulars belonging to this visit 
which characterize the year a.d. 58, but no other year. 

First. This visit of Paul cannot be placed in any year 
earlier than a.d. 58. 

It is clear that the arrival of Paul at the Jewish capital 
was subsequent to the rise of the Sicarii, and even to 
the later event of the disturbance caused by the Egyptian 
prophet. Lysias, in his hurried conversation with Paul 
on the stairs of Port Antonia, alludes both to the Sicarii 
and the Egyptian : " Art not thou that Egyptian which, 
before these days, madest an uproar, and leddest out in 
the wilderness four thousand men of the Sicarii? {tcdv 
XucapicQv d )." At what period, then, did the emeute of the 

Ovk apa av a 6 hxyimrios 6 npo tovtcov twv f)p.epa>i> dvaa-Taracras kcl\ 
e^ayayow els ttjv eprjpou tovs TeTpaKiax^ovs avdpas tup Siko/jiW. Acts 
xxi. 38. 



DATE OF ST. PAUl/s VISIT TO JERUSALEM, &C 115 

Egyptian impostor occur? We learn from Josephus that 
it was in the time of Nero, and if we examine the events 
recorded by that historian under the reign of Nero, and 
preceding the appearance of the Egyptian prophet, we 
shall find that this impostor could not have made his 
attempt before the year a.d. 57. Nero began to reign 
on the 13th of October, a.d. 54, and the transactions 
in Judcea and the East during the time of Nero, (ret 
'lovSaloL? tear avrov yevo/xeva, Bell. ii. 13, 1 ; and 
see Ant. xx. 8, 4), are enumerated in the following 
order : — 

1. Nero makes Soemus king of Emesa, and gives the 
Lesser Armenia to Aristobulus, and extends the domi- 
nions of Agrippa, Ant. xx. 8, 4, Bell. ii. 13, 2. 

2. Judaea is filled with bandits, and Eelix is busy in 
extirpating them, 7roA\ov? jxlv mad' eKaaTrjv rjixepav 
Aa/jL(3avcov, Ant. xx. 8, 4, till the country is cleared, 
Ka6ap6eio-7)s 7-779 x®P a9 > Bell, ii. 13, 3. Eleazar, the 
arch-robber, who had defied the governors for 20 years, 
is captured and sent to Rome, Ant. x. 8, 5, Bell. ii. 13, 2. 
(The tranquillity thus produced is the peace for which 
Tertullus compliments Eelix: iroXkrjs eiprjvri? rvyya- 
vovres 8ia aov, Acts xxiv. 3.) 

3. The rise of the Sicarii, or secret assassins, Irepov 
elSos Xrio-Twv, Bell ii. 13, 3, chiefly at the great feasts. 
Jonathan, the high-priest, is their first victim, and as 
this passed over with impunity, the evil spreads. Ant. 
xx. 8, 5, Bell. ii. 13, 3. Observe, also, that Lysias speaks 
of 4,000 Sicarii, TerpaKLa-xiXiovs avBpas tS>v ^tKapicov, 
Acts xxi. 38. Some interval, therefore, had elapsed be- 
tween the murder of Jonathan and the arrival of Paul, 

i2 



16 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

or the name of Sicarii would not have been so familiar, 
or their number so great. 

4. Religious impostors, o-Tifyos erepov 7rovr]pS>v, Bell, 
ii. 13, 4, lead multitudes of followers into the desert, and 
Felix sends a force against them and disperses them, 
Ant. xx. 8, 6, Bell. ii. 13, 4. 

5. The Egyptian prophet, fiei^ovL tclvtt]? 7r\r}yr}, 
ell. ii. 13, 5, arises and leads 4,000 followers (Acts xxi. 

38) from Jerusalem into the desert, and afterwards re- 
turns at the head of 30,000 men to the Mount of Olives, 
to make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem, but Felix 
attacks them and kills many, but the Egyptian himself 
escapes, Ant. xx. 8, 6, Bell. ii. 13, 5. Lysias had not, 
improbably, been sent by Eelix against the Egyptian, and 
this would account for his having the Egyptian so much 
in his thoughts, Acts xxi. 38. 

The above events were not contemporaneous, but had 
followed each other, as in a broken constitution, no sooner 
was one disease cured than another shewed itself, Kare- 
orraXfievcov 8e kcu tovtcov ooairep ev voaovvri aco/iart 
ttolXlv erepov fiepo? i^XeypLOUvev, Bell. ii. 13, 6. 

A less space than three years cannot be allowed for 
this series of transactions, and this will bring us to the 
13th of October, a.d. 57. But Paul's arrival at Jeru- 
salem was some time, say several months, after the 
attempt of the Egyptian, for Lysias speaks of it as hav- 
ing occurred " before these days," 7rpo tovtcov to>v 
rj/xepau, Acts xxi. 38. The arrival of the apostle,- there- 
fore, cannot be placed earlier than some time in the 
year a.d. 58. 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 117 



We shall shew that Paul's arrival at Jeru- 
salem could not have been later than in a.d. 58. 

Paul had been two years a prisoner at Caesarea when 
Felix was succeeded by Festus, Acts xxiv. 27. The 
question then is, when was Pelix recalled ? 

On Pelix's return to Rome he was followed by an 
embassy of the Jews, to accuse him to the emperor, and 
he escaped condign punishment through the influence 
only of his brother Pallas, Ant. xx. S, 9. But Pallas 
was taken off by poison in a.d. 62, Tac. Ann. xiv. 64, 
Dion. lxii. 14. The recall of Felix therefore, at least, 
could not have been later than the summer of a.d. 61, 
for Felix was certainly succeeded by Festus in some 
summer, and if it was the summer of a.d. 62, and not 
of a.d. 61, he could not have reached Rome in the life- 
time of Pallas. 

Neither could Felix have been recalled in the summer 
of a.d. 61, for if so, Paul also must have been sent by 
Festus from Cassarea to Rome in the autumn of that 
year, and have reached Rome in the spring of a.d. 62. 
But when Paul arrived at Rome he was delivered to a 
single prefect of the Prsetoriuin, rco arpaToirebap^rj^ 
Acts xxviii. 16, and not to prefects, in the plural. Now 
Burrhus had been the single prefect for ten years and 
upwards, but at the very beginning of a.d. 62 Burrhus 
died, and from that time two prefects were appointed in 
his place. Paul, therefore, must have reached Rome 
in an earlier year than a.d. 62 ; and if so, he must have 
sailed from Caesarea in an earlier year than a.d. 61. 
Consequently, Felix also, who was succeeded by Festus 
in the summer of the year in which Paul sailed, must 
have been recalled before the year a.d. 61. 



118 THE DATE OF ST. PAULAS VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

Felix then must have been displaced in a.d. 60 ; and 
if so, as Paul was a prisoner for two years, he could 
not have been apprehended in the temple later than in 
a.d. 58. 

We have assumed that Burrhus died at the very 
beginning of a.d. 62, and this will appear from the 
detail of events related by Tacitus, as occurring between 
the 1st of January and the 9th of June of that year. 

The only facts recorded by Tacitus before the death 
of Burrhus, are the accusations against Antistius and 
Veiento, Tac. Ann. xiv. 4S — 51. But the occurrences 
between the death of Burrhus, and the death of Octavia 
on the 9th of June of the same year, are such as to re- 
quire all the space that can be allowed them, even on the 
supposition that Burrhus died some time in the month 
of January. The events of this year up to the 9th of 
June are thus given : — 

Antistius and Veiento are accused, Tac. Ann. xiv. 

48, 50. 
The death of Burrhus 



Seneca loses his power in consequence, xiv. 51, 52. j 
He is accused before Nero, and defends himself, ' 
xiv. 53. 

Eufus Fenius falls into disgrace, xiv. 57. J 

Tigellinus, his colleague, urges the death of Sulla "^ 
in Gaul, and Plautus in Asia, xiv. 57. 

Sulla is executed in Gaul, and his head brought to 
Borne, xiv. 57 ; and Plautus is put to death in 
Asia, and his head also brought to Eome, xiv. 59. 
This voyage from Eome to Asia and back must 
have occupied a considerable time, the more so, as 
the report of the plot against Plautus reached 
him, in Asia, before his executioners arrived. 

The Senate pass a vote of thanks to JS r ero, xiv. 59. 



Feb. 



Mar. 



and 



April. 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 119 

Divorce of Octavia, xiv. 60. 

Nero's marriage vcith Poppoea, xiv. 60, 12 days after 

the divorce, Suet. Nero, 35. 
Murmurs of the people at the usage of Octavia, }■ May. 

Tac. Ann. xiv. 60. 
Octavia recalled from Campania, xiv. 60. 
Rejoicings of the people, xiv. 60. 



J 



Octavia banished to Pandateria, xiv. 61. 

Some days after (paucis interjectis diebus) Octavia 

is put to death, xiv. 62. \ June. 

This was on the same day as the death of Nero, and 

therefore on the 9th of June, Suet. Nero, 57. 

We leave the reader to judge from tins table, whether 
Burrhus could have survived the month of January, 
and have been still alive when Paid reached Rome, at 
the end of February. 

Thirdly. There are arguments which will evince that 
Paul arrived at Jerusalem in the year a.d. 58, and not 
in any other year. Let the reader attend to the follow- 
ing remarkable coincidence. Paul had originally purposed 
to sail direct from Corinth to Judaea, but an ambush 
was laid against him, and he was obliged to go round 
by Macedonia. This circuit caused considerable delay, 
and he was under the necessity of making all haste, in 
order to reach Jerusalem at the Pentecost, " if it were 
possible" (el Svpcctop rjv avrcp,) Acts xx. 16. He arrived 
at Philippi just before the Passover, and stayed till it 
was over. He then sailed for Troas, which he reached on 
the 5th day. He tarried there seven days, and the last 
was a Sunday, on which he preached, before departing 
on the Monday. 'H/jLelcrSe e^eirXevaafxev fiera ras 
rjfxepas rcov afyfiwv arro <&L\i7nrwv, kcu rjXdoixev 7rph? 
clvtov? eh tttjv Tpcodda a^pis rjiiepcov irevre, ov 8ie- 



120 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

Tptya[iev rjjjiepas eirra. '~Ev Se rrj /xlol rwv aa^(3drcov, 
&c, Acts xx. 6. Now in a.d. 58, the day of the paschal 
sacrifices and supper, the first of the eight days' feast, 
fell on Monday the 27th of March, (beginning at 6 p.m. 
of the evening before), and the last day of the feast was 
Monday the 3rd of April. Paul, therefore, started on 
Tuesday, the 4th of April, and reached Troas on Sunday, 
the 9th of April, and stayed a week there, and preached 
at Troas on Sunday the 16th of April. 

Now every year about this time, except the year 
a.d. 58, presents features at variance with the fact men- 
tioned by Luke, that Paul spent the Sunday, being the 
13th day after leaving Philippi, in Troas. To have done 
this, Paul must have sailed from Philippi on a Tuesday, 
and this Tuesday must have been at the conclusion of 
a Passover. The following table will shew how little 
any year but a.d. 58 will answer the requisitions : — 



A.D. 


Passover begins. 


Passover ends. 


53 


March 22, Thursday. 


March 29, Thursday. 


54 


April 10, "Wednesday. 


April 17, Wednesday. 


55 


March 30, Sunday. 


April 6, Sunday. 


56 


March 19, Friday. 


March 26, Friday. 


57 


April 7, Thursday. 


April 14, Thursday. 


58 


March 27, Monday. 


April 3, Monday. 


59 


April 15, Sunday. 


April 22, Sunday. 


60 


April 4, Friday. 


April 11, Friday*. 



The years that agree best after a.d. 58 are the years 
a.d. 55 and a.d. 59, in which the Passover ended on a 
Sunday, and then, if Paul remained one day at Philippi, 
and started on the following day, viz. Tuesday, he would 

e For the feast-days in this table, see Greswell's Prolegomena ; and for 
the week-days, see De Morgan's Book of Almanacks ; and see upon the 
subject generally, Wieseler's Chronology, which the author in this chapter 
has, with little variation, adopted. 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 121 

still be at Troas on Sunday, the 13th day after. But 
Paul could not have been at Philippi in a.d. 55, for then 
he would have reached Jerusalem at the Pentecost of the 
same year ; but this could not have been the case, for the 
outbreak of the Egyptian had occurred, upon this hypo- 
thesis, some time, say six months, before, which is utterly 
at variance with the narrative of Josephus. Neither could 
Paul have started from Philippi in a.d. 59, for then he 
must have sailed from Csesarea in a.d. 61, and have been 
delivered over in February, a.d. 62, to Burrhus, rw arpa- 
T07r€8dpxfl, Acts xxviii. 16, but who had died the pre- 
ceding month. We must conclude, therefore, upon the 
whole, that Paul's departure from Philippi, and arrival 
at Jerusalem, was in a.d. 58, and could have been in no 
other year. 

There is also a further argument connected with the 
same subject, which is this. The apostle started from 
Philippi after the Passover, and arrived at Jerusalem 
before the day of Pentecost. What space of time then 
was consumed in the journey ? The Pentecost was the 
50th day from the second day (exclusively) of the feast of 
unleavened bread. We must deduct then the five last 
days of the feast of unleavened bread, during which 
Paul was still at Philippi, and the day of Pentecost 
itself, and we have remaining 44 days only. The ene- 
mies of Christianity have ventured on the assertion, that 
Paul could not possibly, between the Passover and Pen- 
tecost of any year, have accomplished the voyage from 
Philippi to Jerusalem ; but although that proposition be 
untenable, we shall, nevertheless, be satisfied, from an 
inspection of the subjoined table, that the intermediate 



122 THE DATE OP ST. PAUL S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

space is fully occupied, and that Paul had not even a 
day to throw away. Now, in a.d. 58, no time would 
be wasted, but in every other year one or more days 
would be necessarily so. Thus, to explain our meaning 
more fully, the apostle's voyage from Philippi to Troas 
occupied five days, and he stayed at Troas seven days, 
and the last day was a Sunday, when Paul preached. 
He must, therefore, have started from Philippi on a 
Tuesday. In a.d. 58 the Passover ended on a Monday, 
and if Paul quitted Philippi the next day, Tuesday, 
no part of the 44 days between the Passover and Pen- 
tecost was lost. But this would not be the case with 
any other year; thus, in a.d. 57, the Passover ended 
on a Thursday, and therefore, as Paul took his depar- 
ture on a Tuesday, he would waste four days at Philippi 
between the close of the Passover and the commence- 
ment of his journey. Now, on this supposition, it is 
not possible that Paul could have reached Jerusalem be- 
fore the day of Pentecost. 

The following table will exhibit the course of Paul's 
voyage in a.d. 58, and the reader will collect from it 
that, to enable the apostle to reach Jerusalem before the 
Pentecost, he must have quitted Philippi the very day 
after the Passover : — 

A.D. 58. 

The Passover was on Monday, the 27th of March, 
beginning from 6 p.m. of the preceding evening, 
and ended on Monday, the 3rd of April, at 6 p.m. 

Paul started on Tuesday, the 4th of April . . April 4 

In five days, (axpis r^pepav nkvre, xx. 6,) and therefore 
on Sunday, he reached Troas, and remained seven 

days, ov dierptyapev r/pepas enrd, XX. 6. 8 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 123 

On the last of the seven days, and therefore on 

Sunday, the 16th, Paul preached at Troas, xx. 7. Apr. 16 

On Monday, the 17th, he embarked at Troas, and 
reached Mitylene 17 

Tuesday, the 18th, (rfj tmovo-ji, xx. 15,) to Chios . 18 

Wednesday, the 19th, (t§ 8e erepa, xx. 15,) to 
Samos . . . . ■ . . .19 

Thursday, the 20th, (rfj f^opivrj, xx. 15,) to Miletus, 
whence he sent off a dispatch to Ephesus, for the 
elders to come to him ..... 20 

Sunday, the 23rd, the elders arrived, and Paul ad- 
dressed them, probably, through the night before 
his departure in the morning, as at Troas . . 23 
Monday, the 24th, Paul embarked apparently at the 
■close of his sermon, (see xx. 38,) and reaehed 

Cos 24 

Tuesday, the 25th, (rfj e£r}s, xxi. 1,) to Ehodes . 25 
Wednesday, the 26th, to Patara ... .26 
Thursday, the 27th, Paul sailed direct for Tyre . 27 
Sunday, the 30th, Paul arrived at Tyre, where they 

stayed a week, ijpepas eVru, xxi. 4. , ... 30 
At the end of the seven days, that is, on 
Monday, when the Sabbath was over, (ore 

eyevero ijpas e^apricrat ras tfpepas, xxi. 5,) Paul 

sailed to Acre. ...... May 8 

At Acre, Paul stayed one day, (ijpepav piav, xxi. 7,) 

and on Wednesday, the 10th, (rfj irravpiop, xxi. 

8,) to Caesarea, whence intelligence was forwarded 

to Jerusalem 10 

Sunday, the 14th, Agabus arrived from Jerusalem, 

and warned Paul of his danger .... 14 
Mod day, the 15th, Paul, having stayed at Caesarea 

several days, rjpepas likelovs, xxi. 10, viz. five days, 

proceeded to Jerusalem, 75 miles distant . . 15 

On Wednesday, the 1 7th, Paul reached Jerusalem, 
and the Pentecost began at 6 p.m. ... 16 



124 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

There are several circumstances belonging to Paul's 
present visit to Jerusalem, which, though they may not 
prove, yet confirm, the hypothesis, that it occurred in the 
year a.d. 58. Thus, in the first place, Paul tells us that 
he had not been at Jerusalem before for several years, 81 
ercov 8e TrXeiovcov 7rap€yev6fJLr)i>, Acts xxiv. 17 ; and, ac- 
cording to the views which we have adopted, he had 
been last at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, 
a.d. 53, nearly five years before. Again, when Paul was 
pleading before Felix, during this visit, he begins by 
alluding to the length of time during which Felix had 
been procurator : " Forasmuch as I know that thou hast 
been for many years a judge unto this nation," (e/c 
ttoXXwv ircoit ovra ere Kpirrjv rco eOvei tovtco), Acts 
xxiv. 10. Felix had been appointed in a.d. 52, and as 
the usual time of office was two or three years, Paul 
might well speak of a period of six years, viz. from a.d. 
52 to a.d. 58, as a prolonged administration. 

Another argument does not lie so much on the sur- 
face. It is this. If the date of Paul's voyage from 
Greece to Jerusalem be placed, as it is by Greswell, in 
a.d. 56, then Paul had left Ephesus for Greece in the 
preceding year, or a.d. 55, and had arrived at Ephesus 
from Galatia three years before that, viz. in a.d. 52. That 
the Epistle to the Galatians was written after this second 
visit to Galatia is evident, for the apostle alludes to the 
first : " Ye know that through infirmity of the flesh I 
preached the gospel unto you the former time ;" (to 
irporepov), Galat. iv. 13, and it must, therefore, have 
been despatched after a.d. 52. It was also sent to them 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 125 

during the observance of a sabbatic year : " Ye are ob- 
serving clays and months, and seasons and years" 0/V c '~ 
pas TrapaTTjpeiaOe, /cat prjvas /cat Koupovs /cat Iviav- 
tov?,) Galat. iv. 10, and therefore some time in a.d. 55. 
But, if so, three years would have elapsed since his last 
appearance amongst the Galatians. Now, several pas- 
sages in the Epistle shew that Paul had left them not 
long before, thus : " I marvel that ye are so soon removed 
from the faith," &c, Galat. i.; and there are many other 
similar texts. The author had formerly adopted the date 
of a.d. 56, and found himself unable to reconcile this 
discrepancy, but assuming the date of Paul's visit to 
Jerusalem to be, not in a.d. 56, but in a.d. 58, the diffi- 
culty vanishes ; for Paul, on this supposition, had quitted 
Ephesus for Greece in a.d. 57, and his arrival at Ephesus 
three years before, from Galatia, had been in a.d. 54, and 
the Epistle to the Galatians would be written the follow- 
ing year, viz. in a.d. 55 ; and a brief interval of this kind 
accords well enough with the expressions in the Epistle 
alluding to his presence amongst the Galatians not very 
long previously. 

We must now advert to one or two objections against 
the date of a.d. 58. It is said by Josephus, that when 
Eelix was recalled, his brother Pallas was still at the 
height of his influence, fxaXiara Sloc tl/jlt}?, Ant. xx.8,9 ; 
but if Paul arrived at Jerusalem in a.d. 58, then, it is 
said, Eelix was recalled in a.d. 60, and Pallas at that 
time, though still living, had lost his power. This ob- 
jection proves too much, for Pallas was out of favour so 
early as a.d. 54 f , and in a.d. 55 was actually deprived 

' Tac. Ann. xiii. 2. 



126 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S VISIT TO JERUSALEM 

of office 5 , and Felix could not possibly have been recalled 
so late as a.d. 54, or a.d. 55, for, if so, Paul had been 
arrested by Lysias in a.d. 52, or a.d. 53, at which time 
he could not have been mistaken for the Egyptian, who, 
on the authority of Josephus himself, did not make his 
appearance till the reign of Nero, which began on the 
13th of October, a.d. 54. Josephus, then, in using the 
expression, /xaAto-ra Sloc t^i?}?, evidently exaggerates. 
Pallas, at the recall of Felix, was still living, and could, 
no doubt, still exert great interest for his brother with 
the judges before whom he was tried ; but to describe 
Pallas as then at the height of his influence is a misrepre- 
sentation. Had the fact been so, Felix would not have 
been recalled. 

Another objection to be noticed is, that, if Paul arrived 
at Jerusalem in a.d. 58, then the Epistle to the Romans 
was written early in the same year, just before Paul 
started from Corinth, and in that Epistle Paul sends a 
salutation to Narcissus at Rome, and Narcissus, it is said, 
had been put to death in a.d. 54. We answer, that this 
also proves too much ; for if Narcissus was alive at the 
date of the Epistle, then Paul must have written it in 
the spring of a.d. 54, and have visited Jerusalem at the 
Pentecost of a.d. 54. But this, again, would be before 
the appearance of the Egyptian false prophet, alluded to 
by Lysias, and placed by Josephus in the reign of Nero, 
which commenced on the 13th of October, a.d. 54. The 
Narcissus saluted by Paul in the Epistle to the Romans 
was, no doubt, a much purer character than the cele- 
brated courtier of that name, and was probably some 

e Tac. Ann. xiii. 14. 



WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN THE TEMPLE. 127 

person eminent for his piety in private life. There were 
many Narcissuses at Rome, and two of them were freed- 
men h of note under Claudius and Nero, but neither of 
them could have been the Narcissus honoured with the 
apostle's salutation. 

h The second freedman of that name was put to death by Galba. Dion, 
lxiy. 3. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE DATE OP ST. PAUL'S EE1EASE EEOil nJGPEISONlIEN'T AT ROME. 

The arrival of Paul in the temple at Jerusalem, and 
his release from imprisonment at Rome, are dates mu- 
tually dependent upon each other. Thus, assuming that 
Paul was set upon in the temple at the feast of Pentecost, 
a.d. 58, Acts xx. 16, he was two years a prisoner at 
Caesarea, Acts xxiv. 27, which brings us to the Pentecost 
of a.t>. 60, and in the autumn of that year he sailed for 
Rome. He was at Pair Havens, in Crete, just after the 
fast, which this year was on the 25th of September, Acts 
xxvii. 9, and he spent the three winter months at Malta, 
Acts xxviii. 11, and therefore arrived at Rome in the 
spring of a.d. 61. He remained a prisoner there for two 
years, Acts xxviii. 30, and consequently was liberated in 
the spring of a.d. 63. 

This date is confirmed by the Epistle to the Hebrews, 
for when Paul wrote it he was at liberty, as appears from 
the passage, "with whom (Timothy), if he come shortly, I 
will see you" which he could not have promised if still a 
prisoner ; Me^ ov (Timothy) iav rayiov epxyrai, o^j/o- 



THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S RELEASE, &C. 129 

fiat ifxas, Heb. xiii. 23 ; and yet Paul was still in Italy, 
for he writes, " they of Italy salute you," aaira^ovTcu 
v/jlSs ol airo tt]9 'IraAiW, Heb. xiii. 25. The date of 
the Epistle would, therefore, be in the spring of a.d. 63, 
and we shall be able to shew that the circumstances 
under which it was written can apply only to that par- 
ticular period. 

The apostle had recently received intelligence of a 
persecution of the Christians in Judaea, and, in fact, he 
addressed his Epistle to the Hebrews for the purpose of 
supporting them under it. They had lately seen their 
rulers put to death, Heb. xiii. 7, and many of the 
brethren were still in bonds, Heb. xiii. 3, and these 
sufferings were not for the first time, but a repetition 
of the like afflictions at an earlier period of that Church, 
Heb. x. 32. Such a state of things agrees exactly with 
the well-known persecution of the Christians of Jeru- 
salem by Ananus, when, as mentioned by Josephus, 
James the Just, and others with him, were stoned to 
death, Ant. xx. 9, 1. We shall see that this persecution 
of the Christian Church at Jerusalem occurred toward 
the close of the preceding year, a.d. 62, and, if so, Paul 
would hear of it at the very time when, as we have sup- 
posed, he was set at liberty, and wrote the Epistle, viz. 
in the spring of a.d. 63. 

As Eelix was succeeded in a.d. 60 by Festus, so Festus, 
after he had been not long in office, was succeeded, upon 
his death, by Albinus. James was martyred when Albinus, 
the new procurator of Judsea, was on his road to Jeru- 
salem by way of Egypt, Ant.xx. 9, 1 ; a route which would 
indicate the autumnal time of year, as Albinus had evi- 

K 



130 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL S RELEASE 

dently taken advantage of the etesian winds, which blow 
in July and August. In what year, then, did this occur ? 
It was certainly not later than in a.d. 62, for Josephus 
tells us expressly that Albinus had arrived, and was pre- 
sent at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, (on the 7th 
of October,) of that year l ; and that Albinus did not sail 
from Rome at the midsummer of a.d. 61, but that he 
did so at the midsummer of a.d. 62, though we cannot 
incontrovertibly prove, we can at least shew to be a 
very probable hypothesis. 

The exact time when Festus succeeded Felix was at 
the midsummer of a.d. 60. The first business upon 
which Festus was engaged was to clear the country of 
bandits. He then put down a religious impostor. After 
that Agrippa proceeded — which was a work of time — 
to raise the height of his palace, so as to overlook the 
temple. The Jews, thereupon, erected a counter wall on 
the western side of the temple, in order to shut out the 
view. This was resented both by Agrippa and Festus, 
and the Jews were ordered to demolish the wall. Nego- 
tiations then took place between the Jews, and Agrippa, 
and Albinus, and the Jews obtained leave, not without 
difficulty, to send an embassy to Nero upon the subject, 
and Ishmael the high-priest, and others with him, there- 
upon made a voyage to Rome, and succeeded in their 
mission by the influence of Poppsea, Ant. xix. 8, 11. To 
pause here for a moment ; if Festus had only arrived in 
Judsea at midsummer a.d. 60, we can hardly suppose 
that this mission of Ishmael could take place the same 
year before the navigation of the seas was closed by 

1 Jos. Bell. vi. 5, 3. 



FROM IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 131 

winter. We must, therefore, refer the embassy of Ish- 
mael to the year a.d. 61, at the earliest. 

To proceed : Ishmael, after an audience before the 
emperor, was detained at Rome by Poppsea, and when 
Agrippa heard of it in Juclsea, which would be two 
months later still, he appointed Joseph, son of Cami, 
high-priest in the place of Ishmael ; and when Joseph 
had been some time in office, (probably a month or two 
at the least,) Agrippa displaced Joseph, and appointed 
Ananus, and Ananus had been three months in office 
when Albinus was in Egypt, apparently in August or 
September, on his road to Judaea. Now, assuming Ish- 
mael to have sailed from Judasa in the spring of a.d. 
61, he would arrive at Rome toward the end of April ; 
the hearing by the emperor might have been in May ; 
the news of Ishmael's detention would reach Judsea 
in July, when Joseph would be appointed in his place ; 
Ananus would succeed him in August, and would be 
deposed, after three months, in November, and at this 
time Albinus is represented to have been in Egypt, on 
his way to Judaea. In the foregoing statement we have 
allowed the shortest time possible for the succession of 
events, and even then Albinus could not have arrived in 
Egypt before November j ; whereas if, as is likely, he was 
taking advantage of the etesian winds in July or August, 
he would be in Egypt in September, at the latest. But, 
in fact, the occurrences we have mentioned occupied, no 
doubt, a much longer space than we have assigned to them • 
nor does Josephus say that they followed immediately 

J At this season of the year he would probably have made his journey 
by way of Greece, across the isthmus of Corinth. 

k2 



132 THE DATE OF ST. PAUl/s RELEASE 

one after another, so that we may fairly conclude that 
Albinus could not have entered upon his province in 
the autumn of a.d. 61, or before the year a.d. 62. 

The nearest approximation to the truth would perhaps 
be this. The Jewish mission under Ishmael sailed from 
Judaea in a.d. 61, and were heard toward the close of 
that year; and when the news of Ishmael's detention at 
Home reached Jerusalem, at the beginning of the follow- 
ing year a.d. 62, Agrippa appointed Joseph high-priest, 
and about six months afterwards substituted Ananus in 
his place. Eestus probably died in the spring of a.d. 62, 
and when the intelligence of this event reached Rome, 
about midsummer a.d. 62, Albinus was appointed, and 
he set sail in July or August, by way of Egypt, taking 
advantage of the etesian winds, and arrived in Judsea 
about September of that year. The martyrdom of James 
the Just, and the persecution of the Hebrew Church, had 
occurred a little before, and the tidings of this distress 
at Jerusalem would reach Paul in Italy (the seas being 
closed during the winter k ) the beginning of the follow- 
ing year a.d. 63, when the Epistle to the Hebrews was 
written. 

Josephus speaks of Poppsea at the hearing of the 
Jewish mission at Rome, as the woman or wife, rfj 
yvvauKl, Ant. xix. 8, 11; and if he meant that Poppsea 
was then the wife of Nero, the transaction must have 
taken place as late as May, a.d. 62, when Nero di- 
vorced Octavia and married Poppsea. But the events 

k Thus Paul sailed from Ceesarea in September a.d. 60, and arrived at 
Rome in March a.d. 61, and yet the Jews of Rome had received no in- 
telligence from Judsea about Paul during the interval. 



FROM IMPRISONMENT AT ROME. 133 

related by Josephus himself shew that this was impos- 
sible, for, after the hearing of the mission, the news of 
Ishmael's detention was transmitted to Judaea, and then 
Agrippa appointed Joseph, son of Cami, and afterwards 
removed him, and nominated in his stead Ananus, who 
was in office three months before Albums' arrival, and 
yet Albinus was at Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles, 
which in a.d. 62 was on the 7th of October, Jos. Bell. vi. 
5, 3 ; and the interval between May a.d. 62, and the 7th 
of October a.d. 62, is clearly insufficient for these occur- 
rences, more particularly as we must reckon nearly two 
months for the transmission from Rome to Judaea of Ish- 
mael's detention, and three months for the tenure by 
Ananus of the high-priesthood ; not to mention that 
Joseph, son of Cami, filled the same office for some 
time, though the exact duration does not appear. As 
Ananus's exaltation was abruptly broken off at the end 
of three months, Joseph was perhaps in office a much 
longer space. 

Josephus, then, cannot mean that Poppaea, at the 
period of which he is speaking, was actually married to 
Nero, but was only living with him ; and it is remark- 
able that in the only other parts where Josephus speaks 
of Poppaea, and on both occasions subsequently to her 
marriage, he introduces her expressly as the wife of 
Nero ; <f)l\r)v ovcrav rrjs YloTnrqias tyjs Nepcovos yv- 
vcukos, Ant. xx. 11, 1; Y[o7nrr)ia rfj rod Kcclo-apo? 
yvvaLKL yvoao-Oeis, Vit. Jos. 3 ; whereas here the expres- 
sion is T|j yvvaLKL HoirinqLa (Oeoaefir)? yap i]v) X a P L " 
^onevos, Ant. xx. 8, 11. Poppaea, as is well known, had 



134 THE DATE OF ST. PAUL'S RELEASE, &C. 

been wedded to two husbands before, so that 777 yvvaiKi 
was an appropriate designation of her, and on compar- 
ing the three passages together, the fair inference would 
be that Josephus, so far from calling her the wife of Nero 
at the time of Ishmael's embassy, expressly guards him- 
self against being so understood. 

It may be objected to the order of events as we have 
arranged them, that if Ananus, soon after the death of 
James, was deposed by Agrippa when he had held the 
office of high-priest for three months, Ant. xx. 9, 1, and 
was removed about the time of Albinus's arrival in Sep- 
tember, it follows that the death of James could not have 
occurred (as Hegesippus places it, Euseb. lib. 2, c. 3) at 
the time of a Passover. We answer, that the relation of 
Hegesippus is wholly unworthy of credit, being little 
better than fable. In assirminoj the death of James, the 
brother of our Lord, to a Passover, he apparently con- 
founds it with the death of James the brother of John, 
which did occur at a Passover l . That James, the brother 
of our Lord, was martyred at a Passover is unlikely, both 
from the absence at the time from Jerusalem of King 
Agrippa, who would probably have attended the feast ; 
and also from the omission of that circumstance in the 
apparently truthful version of the death of James in 
Josephus ; and again, from the arrival of Albinus in 
Judaea by way of Egypt, which, according to the usual 
custom of travelling, would be in the autumnal months. 

1 Acts xii. 2, 4. 



CONCLUSION. 



Now that we have ascertained the leading dates of 
the New Testament, we can have little difficulty in 
filling up the details. Perhaps no two persons may 
exactly agree as to all the particulars ; but, on the 
other hand, they cannot materially differ. . The follow- 
ing table exhibits the author's views upon the subject : 

B.C. 

Birtli of John the Baptist, 2nd March . . 5 

Birth of Christ, 2nd September ... 5 

A.D. 

John the Baptist begins his ministry at the Pass- 
over 16th April ..... 29 

Christ begins His ministry six months after, in 

October ..... 29 

Crucifixion at the Passover, 3rd April ; descent of 
the Holy Grhost at the Pentecost, 23rd May ; 
Peter and John cure the cripple at the beautiful 
gate of the temple, and 5,000 converts are made ; 
Peter and John are arrested and brought before 
the Sanhedrim ..... 33 

The deaths of Ananias and Sapphira . . 34 

The appointment of the seven deacons . .35 



136 CONCLUSION. 

A.D. 

The conversion of St. Paul toward the close of the 

year, soon after the feast of Tabernacles . 36 

Philip converts the Ethiopian eunuch, while re- 
turning from the Passover . . .37 
Paul returns from Damascus to Jerusalem about 

the feast of Tabernacles . . . .39 

The Churches are at rest during Caligula's attempt 
to erect his statue in tbe temple at Jerusalem; 
Peter makes a general circuit of Judaea, Samaria, 
and Galilee ; Cornelius called . . .40 

The gospel preached to the Creeks at Antioch . 41 
Barnabas sent to Antiocb, and many converts made 42 
Barnabas brings Paid from Tarsus to Antioch early 

in the year, and before tbe Passover . . 43 

Agabus foretells the famine, and Paul and Barnabas 
take a collection from Antioch to Jerusalem at 
the time of the Passover . . .44 

Paid and Barnabas make their first circuit . 45 

Paul and Barnabas attend the council at Jerusalem 

on the question of circumcising the Gentdes . 48 
Paul and Sdas make a circuit through Cdicia, 

Pbrygia, and Galatia . . . .49 

Paul and Sdas pass from Troas into Macedonia . 51 
Paul arrives at Corinth about 1st February . 52 

He sads from Corinth about 1st August, and 

reaches Jerusalem at the feast of Tabernacles . 53 
He arrives at Ephesus in the spring . . 54 

He sads from Ephesus to Troas soon after the 
Passover, and, passing through Macedonia, win- 
ters at Corinth . . . . .57 
He sads from Corinth shortly before the Passover, 
which he spends at Phdippi ; and attends the feast 
of Pentecost at Jerusalem, where he is arrested 
in the temple . . . . .58 
After two years' imprisonment at Csesarea, he sads 
for Borne in the autumn . . . .60 



CONCLUSION. 137 

A.D. 

He winters at Malta, and arrives at Eome in the 

spring ...... 61 

He is released, after two years' imprisonment, in 

the spring ..... 63 

He visits Crete, Macedonia, Corinth, and Nicopolis, 

where he winters . . 64 

He preaches in Dalmatia, and passes through Mace- 
donia to Troas and Ephesus, where he is appre- 
hended and sent again to Rome, over the isthmus 
of Corinth, during the winter . . .65 

His martyrdom . . . . .66 



NOTES. 



P. 20. An instance is here given of the supposed computation 
of the reign of Herod, from the time of his actual appointment 
by the Romans, in November B.C. 40, and the author was led to 
adopt this, view from the statement of Josephus, that the 28th 
year of Herod coincided with the 192nd Olympiad. As the 192nd 
Olympiad, properly so called, i. e. the first year of it, began at 
midsummer b.c. 12, it is manifest that the 28th year of Herod, if 
concurrent with that Olympiad, could only be reckoned from 
November B.C. 40. In all other cases, however, Josephus reckons 
the years of the reign from the death of Antigonus in November 
B.C. 37, counting the remnant of that year as a whole year, and 
making the 1st Jan. B.C. 36, the commencement of the second 
year. In the latter mode, the 28th year of Herod would coincide 
with B.C. 10, and that Caesarea was completed in B.C. 10, and not 
in B.C. 12, may be thus shewn to be at least probable. M. 
Agrippa, taking with him Antipater, a son of Herod, Jos. Ant. 
xvi. 3, 3, Bell. i. 23, 2, returned from the East to Italy at the 
close of B.C. 13, Dion liv. 29. A correspondence then followed 
between Herod and Antipater, (o-wex&s eVeVrX \ev, Ant. xvi. 4, 1,) 
and, eventually, in B.C. 11, Herod made a voyage to Rome, Ant. 
xvi. 4, 1 ; and after this (and therefore, apparently, in B.C. 10,) 
follows, in the course of the narrative, the completion of Csesarea. 
Thus Josephus, in assigning it to the 192nd Olympiad, does not 
mean the first year of the Olympiad, in B.C. 12, but the third year 
of the Olympiad, in B.C. 10. In the same way the capture of 
Jerusalem, on the 5th of Oct. B.C. 37, is placed by the historian 
in the 185th Olympiad, i. e. in the fourth year of it, Ant. xiv. 16, 
4. The computation of the 28 years of Herod by Josephus, thus 
explained, is not an exception from his usual mode of reckoning, 
but another exemplification of it. 

P. 32. As Philo was a contemporary of St. Luke, so that his 
authority possesses great importance as to the usage in his time 



NOTES. 139 

in computing the reign of Tiberius, we may here add that Philo 
ascribes to the reign of Tiberius 23 years, i. e. he dates the com- 
mencement of it not from B.C. 12, but from B.C. 14 ; rpla -rrpbs rols 
ei'iocrt err] yrjs Kai da\a.TTT]s dva^dpevos to updros, Leg. ad Caium, S. 21. 

P. 59. It has occurred to the author, in the progress of the work 
through the press, that the expression, irpb e£ rjpepS>p rod irdo-xa, 
John xii. 1, may more properly be rendered the sixth day inclu- 
sive, from the day of the Passover exclusive. Thus, the Passover 
was from 6 p.m. on "Wednesday the 1st of April, to 6 p.m. on 
Thursday the 2nd of April, the paschal sacrifices being slain on 
the Thursday afternoon. The sixth day before would, therefore, 
be Friday the 27th of March, so that our Saviour reached Bethany 
before the commencement of the Sabbath on that day, and rested 
he Sabbath at Bethany, and on Saturday, when the Sabbath was 
•ver, and therefore after 6 p.m., sat down to the supper, to which 
mmerous guests, besides the disciples, were invited. 

P. 62. There were certainly four Passovers in the ministry of 
our Saviour, but there appears no great improbability in the 
hypothesis that there were even Jive. On the latter supposition? 
the events would arrange themselves thus : — 

A.D. 28. John the Baptist begins his ministry at the close of the year, 
i. e. in the 1 5th year of Tiberius, Luke iii. 1, and therefore 
after the 19th of August. 

A.D. 29. Jesus is baptized in February. He is tempted forty days, and 
then returns to John the Baptist, John i. 29, and passes to 
Cana, John ii. 1, and thence to Capernaum, and, after a 
few days, attends the Passover at Jerusalem on April 16th, 
John ii. 12, when the temple is said to have been forty-six 
years in building, John ii. 20. Jesus preaches in Judasa 
till November, John iii. 22, iv. 35. John is cast into prison, 
and Jesus retires to Capernaum, where He passes the winter, 
Marki. 14, Matt. iv. 12. 

A.D. 30. Jesus makes a circuit through Galilee and visits Nazareth, 
Luke iv. 14, and returns to Capernaum about midsummer, 
Luke iv. 31, Mark i. 21. He makes a second circuit through 
the whole of Galilee, Luke iv. 44, Mark i. 39, and attends 
the feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem on the 30th of Sep- 
tember, John v. 1, and passes the winter at Capernaum, 
Mark ii. 1. 

A.D. 31. Jesus makes a third circuit, in the course of which occurs the 



140 NOTES. 

Passover referred to by Luke in the expression Zv o-a/3/3ar&> 
bevreponpcoTOd, Luke vi. 1, and returns to Capernaum, Luke 
vii. 1. He commences a fourth circuit, Luke vii. 11, 
and again returns to Capernaum, Mark iii. 20 ; and then a 
fifth circuit, Mark iv. 35, and returns to Capernaum, where 
He passes the winter, Matt. ix. 1, Mark v. 21, Luke viii. 40. 

a.d. 32. Jesus makes a sixth circuit, Mark vi. 1, Matt. xiii. 54, when 
the apostles are sent to preach by two and two, Matt. x. 1, 
Mark vi. 7, Luke ix. 1. The death of John the Baptist. 
The 5,000 are fed at the time of the Passover, John vi. 
4, &c. 

In the above table it will be observed, that the temple is said 
to have been forty-six years building in a.d. 29, and not (as 
assumed at p. 41) in a.d. 30. Supposing the preparations for the 
temple (see p. 41) to have occupied one year only, instead of two, 
the building itself would, in a.d. 29, have continued forty-six years. 

Again, John, in the above table, is said to have been cast into 
prison in a.d. 29, and not (as stated at p. 47,) in a.d. 30; but the 
former hypothesis may not, improbably, be the truth, for as Livia 
died early in the year, Herod Antipas may have sailed to Rome, 
and returned to Judaea in a.d. 29, more particularly as he was in 
haste to consummate his marriage with Herodias, and John may 
have been cast into prison immediately on Plerod's arrival in 
Galilee, toward the close of the year. 



INDEX. 



Abia, 27. 
Achaia, 100. 
Actium, 24. 
JEYms Gallus, 25. 
JEnon, 42. 
Agabus, 109. 
Agrippa, 18, 48, 130. 
Agrippina, 99. 
Albinus, 129, 132, 133. 
Ananus, 131. 
Antigonus, 13, 16. 
Antiochus Sidetes, 82. 
Antipas, Herod, 3, 8, 45, 6.' 
Apicata, 49. 

Aquila, 95, 98, 109, 110. 
Archelaus, 2, 3, 7. 
Aristobulus, 16, 81. 
Artaxerxcs, 90. 
Augustus, 25. 



Barzaphernes, 12. 
Bethabara, 57. 
Bethany, 59. 
Bethesda, 54. 
Bethsaida, 57. 
Burrhus, 117, 118, 121. 



Cassarea Philippi, 58. 
Caius, 2, 7. 
Caligula, 112. 
Cana, 50. 
Capernaum, 38. 
Celev, 96. 
Chaldeans, 98. 
Circuits, 52. 
Claudius, 95, 113. 
Cleopatra, 14. 
Coins, 3, 32, 84. 
Conversion, 103. 
Courses of Priests, 53. 
Crucifixion, 63. 
Cumanus, 95. 
Cuspius Fadus, 110. 
Cyrus, 89. 



Daniel, prophecy of, 88. 
Darius, 89. 
AevTepowpwTOV, 53. 
Dionysius Exiguus, 1. 
Drusus, 48, 49. 

Eclipse, I, 4. 
Egyptian. 116. 
Egyptians, 21. 
Eleazar, 1 15. 
Elias, 35, 63. 
"EXX wes, 60. 
Emperors of Rome, 16. 
Ephraim, 58. 
Equinox, 85. 

Famine, 24. 

Felix, 97, 113. 117, 124, 125, 129. 

Festus, 129, 130, 132. 

Fig-tree, 34, 59, 62. 

Full Moon, 76. 

Gabbatha, 61. 
Galatians, 124. 
Gallio, 99. 
Gallus, JEYms, 25. 
Golgotha, 61. 

Hebrews, Epistle to, 128, 129, 132. 

Hegesippus, 134. 

Herod Antipas, 3, 8, 45, 61. 

Herod the Great, 1, 12, 14, 16, 19. 

Herod, Philip, 7. 

Herodias, 45, 48. 

High-day, 73. 

Hyrcanus, 18, 19, 23, 83. 

Ishmael, 130. 

James the Just, 129, 132, 134. 

Jerusalem, 15, 23, 26. 

John Baptist, 27, 29, 33, 44, 47. 

John, St., 50. 

Joseph, 131, 132. 



142 



Lucius, 7. " 
Lysias, 114. 

Machasrus, 46. 
Maimonides, 8S. 
Malchus, 13. 
Marcellus, 105. 
Mathematici, 98. 
Matthew, St., 50. 

Nain, 55. 
Narcissus, 126. 
Nazareth, 52, 56. 
Nero, 126. 
Nicodemus, 41. " 
Nieolaus of Damascus, 83. 
Nisan, 75. 

Pacorus, 12. 
Pallas, 125. 
Palm Sunday, 59. 
Parthiar.s, 12. 
Passover, 59, 60, 63, 74. 
Pentecost, 83. 
Persecution, 129. 
Petronius, 24. 
Phasis, 79. 
Philip, Herod, 7. 
Philippi, 99, 101, 119, 122. 
Pilate, 60, 104. 
Poppaea, 130, 131, 132. 
Prsetorium, 60. 
Preparation, 72. 
HpuTOf adfifiaTov, 53. 



Quadratus, 96. 

Romans, 126. 
Rufus Penius, 118. 

Sabbath, 54. 
Sabhatic year, 53. 
Sanhedrim, 60. 
Sejanus, 46, 49. 
Seneca, 99, 118. 
Seventy, The, 58. 
Seventy weeks, 88. 
Sheaf-offering, 74. 
Sicarii, 114. 
Soimus, 1 15. 
Stephen, 106. 
Supper, Last, 64. 
Sychar, 42. 

Temple, 38. 

Tiberius, 9, 29, 30, 31. 

Tiberius Alexander, 110. 

Unleavened Bread, 74. 

Varus, 95. 
Vitellius, 104, 105. 

War, Jewish, 20. 
Years, how reckoned, 18. 
Zacharias, 27. 



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